Salvation
by Electronic-Star
Summary: Lightning Farron just wanted to save some people from the purge, but she didn't know that she'll end up going on a big journey to fight against her own fate. Onesided HopexLight, but fluff nonethless
1. The Purge

**A.N.** Recently (Though it's now a few months agoxD) I've read Episode Zero —Promise— again (but just Lights part) and then I've got a really weird idea. What if Serah and Dajh didn't become a l'Cie and what if Hopes mother Nora survived the purge? What if Lightning opens up a bit earlier and...I don't know...saves some people from the purge? These questions bothered me until I've build up a story. I actually wanted to write a big oneshot, but then I decided to split it up. Thus my story is finished and I can update soon again. Hope you like my weird idea^^

**Salvation**

Chapter 1: The Purge

The Guardian Corps soldier, Sergeant Lightning Farron, went through the shopping arcade in her home town Bodhum. She was on patrol and pretty pissed off. But not because that so many people were in Bodhum — even after two days after the fireworks — and that she had to fight through the crowd, but she was still pissed off because of the previous day. Yesterday was her twenty-first birthday. Yeah, on birthdays, you should be happy and all that, but she definitely wasn't. Why? Because her little sister Serah told her that she was engaged. Actually, a reason to be cheerful too, but not for Lightning.

First, she was way too young — yes eighteen is still young! — and secondly, her chosen one was an idiot! It was Snow Villiers, whom she met a few days ago after a mission. And all this happened when Lightning wanted to surprise Serah by taking a vacation and travel with her somewhere nice and swore to herself to always be there for her!

But no, this idiot had to ruin everything! Of course Lightning said straight out that she couldn't approve the engagement. She'd yelled at her little sister and made her cry and she hated herself for it. After Serah stormed out of the house crying, Snow followed her and Lightning was left alone. To deflect herself, she started to clean up everything and told herself that Serah will come back to her senses and will come back home, but she didn't. She was missing until now.

In hindsight, Lightning wished she hadn't been so strict with her. Moreover, Serah had made her even such a beautiful gift — but she had to push her stubbornness aside for a moment to open it. She gave her a small, practical survival knife. But still...she still wanted to protect her! It was all her fault that Serah chose someone like Snow. Just because she was never there for her and only had the work in her mind. That's what she wanted to change yesterday. She wanted to travel with her for the first time and planned to take more time for her, no matter how hard the work was. Her mood dropped immediately when she saw this moron. And as they began to talk about an engagement...That was really the straw that broke the camel crowded.

As Lightning went thoughtfully through the mall, a push on her side brought her back to Cocoon. „Hey, watch where you're—", she growled, but stopped abruptly when she saw a little boy with an afro. „I'm sorry!", said the little boy immediately and looked at her apologetically. Whether a kid or not, he should've been careful where he was going! „Just forget it.", she said instead and crossed her arms over her chest. The boy smiled happily and then an elderly man ran towards them, who looked like to be his father. The man was completely out of breath when he stopped. „Dajh don't run away like that.", he chided. „I just wanted to watch something.", said the boy, whose name was apparently Dajh, innocently. „You should take better care of your child.", advised Lightning, but kept this cool tone in her voice.

The man nodded and then suddenly a small Chocobo chick flew out of his afro. Lightning raised an eyebrow when she saw it. Apparently the chick used his hair as a nest. The Chocobo chick flew around Lightning and chirped merrily. „Looks like it likes you.", said the boy with a grin on his face. Lightning glared at the chick, but it wasn't afraid of her and even landed on her shoulder. „And it's also fearless.", laughed the man and took the chick in his hands.

Lightning sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. „What, you don't like Chocobos, soldier girl?" Lightning didn't answer and went away, while ignoring the laughter of the old man. She didn't want to be addressed by anyone anymore! When her shift is finally over, she'll search for Serah. She couldn't avoid her forever. In addition, she also was worried about her by now. And she was almost certain that she was with this Snow. The mere thought made her furious. She clenched her fists tightly, until her knuckles were completely white. „Hey!", called a girl suddenly and tore Lightning back from her thoughts. She ignored the call skillfully, knowing that the call wasn't meant for her.

„Excuse me." When someone grabbed her arm, she broke free from that grip and turned abruptly to the person. „What?", she hissed between clenched teeth. „You have to help me.", said the girl in front of her. She looked very young, had grass green eyes, red hair, which was tied in two small braids and wore exotic — and revealing — clothes. Lightning looked at her a little longer and then she remembered. She'd seen her at the day before the fireworks. There she was, however, accompanied by an older black-haired woman.

How could she forget those, who stood out more than a raging Behemoth in the middle of a city? When the girl didn't say anything anymore, Lightning raised an eyebrow and glared at her with a look that said:„Now tell me what you want from me already, so I can get rid of you!"

„I'm looking for my friend." _Is that my problem?_, grumbled Lightning annoyed in thought. But to help people was a part of her job. „The black-haired woman, who wears crazy clothes just like you?"

„Yes, have you seen her?"

„Yes, a few days ago, with you."

„Oh. And you haven't seen her today?" Lightning shook her head. She would've noticed it when this dazzling personality was around here. „Too bad...", she said disappointed. „Can you help me look for her?"

„Why me?", she asked, not even trying to cover up her anger. „Well, because I still knew that a pink-haired soldier had seen us and since you know what she looks like, it's definitely easier to find her." It looked like the two weren't the only ones that stood out...„Alright.", sighed Lightning before they began to search for the woman. „Anyway, I'm Vanille.", she said as she ran after her. _I couldn't care less._, thought Lightning. „What's your name?"

„Lightning."

„Lightning...I like that." Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see that Vanille was smiling at her, but Lightning didn't deign to look at her. She just wanted to find her companion, so that she could be alone again. „Good for you." She really wasn't in the mood for smalltalk. „Where have you last seen her?", asked Lightning. „Um...", Vanille thought for a few seconds. „Around the...Pulse Vestige." _Pulse Vestige, huh._ The Pulse Vestige was a huge...something from Pulse. There are rumors that there's a fal'Cie inside.

Lightning quickened her pace and went straight to the Pulse Vestige. It was best to start the search there. She heard that Vanille had to run after her, but she didn't slow her pace. As they reached the Pulse Vestige, Lightning already saw the searched one. „There she is.", she said and pointing to the black-haired woman. „Fang!", called Vanille and waved at her. Then Fang — what a weird name — went over to them. „Vanille, where have you been?" Then she looked at Lightning. „And who is this?"

„This is Lightning. She helped me to find you. Where have you been anyway?"

„Where _I_ have been? _You_ disappeared. You were busy with something else, then I told you "I'll be right back" and when I came back you were gone." _Idiots..._, thought Lightning and shook her head. „Really? I haven't heard you said that...Well whatever, now we're together again.", said Vanille, while smiling brightly and then turned to Lightning. „Thanks for your help, Lightning."

„No problem.", she sighed and went away without saying goodbye. But she heard clearly what this Fang said:„What a little sunshine, isn't she?"

* * *

Around noon, Lightning noticed how the climate in the city changed dramatically. And she didn't mean the weather, but how the people behaved. Had she missed something? „Look at that." A male and very familiar voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She immediately turned to the person who spoke to her. „If this isn't our raid commander.", said lieutenant Amador amused. Lightning rolled her eyes, but saluted. „Sir."

„At ease, Farron." Lightning did as she was told. „Ever heard of that? Apparently l'Cie were discovered in this area." In an instant Lightning started to listen attentively. „L'Cie?", she repeated surprised. „Yes. Pulse l'Cie. As PSICOM got wind of it, they immediately started a purge."

„A purge..." That's why people are so appalled. „Yes. And now all these people are going to send to hell because everyone are too afraid that those who perhaps had contact with them are l'Cie too."

„This is really unbelievable." However, she didn't know what was more unbelievable. That Pulse l'Cie were here, or that PSICOM's going to bring many innocent people to Pulse — the hell on earth. „Too right. But take my advice and don't mingle in PSICOM business. It's pointless." Lightning just nodded in response. „Oh yeah, and happy birthday." Amador could, just like Lightning, change the subject without any reason. He patted her on the back, before he left.

* * *

Once Lightning's shift was finally over, she went through the town again, looking for her sister. And everywhere she looked, she saw PSICOM soldiers who brought the civilians somewhere. Apparently to the trains. So they'll bring them to the Hanging Edge, before it goes to Pulse.  
Just to be sure, she also went to the purge trains. It could be that they mistook her for a l'Cie and took her. If that's the case, there will be a bloodbath! Fortunately, she didn't found Serah there, but someone else.

This weird Chocobo guy and his son and two people, that she saw on the day of the fireworks: a woman with light cream-colored — and almost silver — hair and her silver-haired son. Because of them she came up with the idea to get away on a trip with Serah, because the two were also on a vacation. The timing couldn't be worse.

To be on holiday and then suddenly sent to hell. Something in Lightning told her that she should help them. At least, it would do no other, and the children looked totally scared. Another half in Lightning, however, said she should rather not get involved and should ignore this. The lieutenant said that she shouldn't interfere in PSICOM business. But would it be right to bring all those people to hell? Even though it was also her job to take care of l'Cie, she was pretty sure that these four were _not_ l'Cie. It's been decided. She went straight to the four, who fortunately stood right behind each other, and was also immediately noticed by them.

„Hey, soldier girl.", greeted the old man who hadn't lost his sense of humor. „_Not now_!", she hissed, while looking at him darkly. When he just raised his hands defensively, Lightning looked to the other two. For the first time she had the opportunity to see them up close. Except for the slight difference in their hair color, mother and son looked quite similar. Just like the other two, you could see clearly that they're related. „I'll take you out of here. If you want—"

„If we want? _Of course we want_!"

„_Be quiet_!", hissed Lightning between clenched teeth and gave the old man her famous death glare. He immediately went quiet again. „Just be quiet and follow me without attracting attention.", commanded Lightning, before she turned away, just to run into a PSICOM soldier. „What are you doing?", he asked and then looked at Lightning's shoulder plate. „What's the GC doing here? PSICOM's responsible for the purge."

„I know that.", replied Lightning annoyed. „I just have the orders to take them with me."

„What for?" The soldier didn't seem convinced. Lightning rolled her eyes and pretended as if he should know this. „The four were the closest to the Pulse Vestige and they all want to find out immediately whether they are l'Cie or not, if you know what I mean."

„Of course, I understand.", he said quickly. „I only obey my orders, so if you would leave me alone and let me do what I'm ordered to...", she grumbled and gave him a look that said:„Let me go, or I'll kill you!"

„Of course.", said the soldier, and moved away. „Follow me." commanded Lightning, whose face and voice didn't change, so that she was more authentic. She heard them follow her and brought them as far away from the action as possible. As they disappeared into a small alley, she turned back to the four. „Do you really have the order take us for that?", asked the woman anxiously. Lightning shook her head. „No, that was just an excuse to get rid of him. But when PSICOM soldiers are near, I want you to behave as if I bring you to a place that's worse than hell itself, understood?" The four nodded immediately. „Soldiers are excluded from the purge, so I suggest that you stay close to me, until the coast is clear."

„Yessir!", said Dajh — she just noticed that he's the only one, whose name she knew — and saluted playfully. The others nodded in response. „Okay, forward march!" Lightning went out of the alley and brought them to her house. At this moment, it was the only safe place and she also hoped that Serah will be there too. As they all entered Lightnings house, the soldier went briskly through the apartment. „Serah?", she called, but she got no answer. Then she went into her little sister's room, but it was also empty. „Serah!" Everything remained quiet. Lightning sighed and went back to the two families.

„You can rest for a while, or do whatever you want, I have to do something.", said Lightning and then took her cell phone out of her red bag. „Who's Serah?", asked the woman. „My sister.", answered Lightning and saw that Serah tried to call her for the past hour. „I think we should introduce ourselves at first, don't you think?", asked the man, while the group agreed. „I'm Sazh Katzroy and this is my son Dajh." Then the Chocobo chick came out of his hair. „Oh, and this little fellow is Chocolina."

„How cute.", said the woman and let the chick land on her hand. The silver-haired boy smiled, as he saw how thrilled his mother was because of the chick. Was he always so quiet? „I'm Nora Estheim and this is Hope.", she said, while putting a hand around her son's shoulder. The Chocobo disappeared in Sazh's hair once again. When the four stared at Lightning, she noticed that it was her turn to introduce herself. „Lightning."

„Where?", asked Sazh and looked out the window. „My Name.", she grumbled. „What was that again?" Lightning rolled her eyes annoyed. „My name is Lightning Farron.", she growled in Sazh's direction. Sazh then raised his hands in defense. Lightning then dialed Serah's number and held the phone on her ear. It rang twice before someone picked up. „Lightning.", said her sister happily. Although Lightning was glad that her sister was fine, she was still pissed off that she was gone all day. „Where have you been?!", she asked with her icy soldier voice. „Um...I..."

„So?"

„I was with Snow." In an instant Lightning wasn't angry but furious! „Serah, haven't I told you that—"

„I know.", interrupted Serah and sounded very quiet, perhaps to not make her angrier. „But try to understand, Lightning..."

„What am I supposed to understand? That you got engaged with such a moron?", she growled and didn't notice the shocked faces of the others. „Yeah...", answered Serah meekly. „I told you that—"

„I know what you've told me.", interrupted Serah yet again, this time with a stronger tone in her voice, though. „Can you fucking let me finish?!" Then Lightning looked briefly at the others and saw their shocked faces. She turned back away from them, while trying to control her anger. „Where are you?"

„In Lebreau's bar."

„Where is that?" Serah gave her a brief directions to the bar. „Listen. You stay put, until I pick you up, understood?"

„Yes, sis...", sighed her little sister. „I'm serious. Do you have any idea what's going on in the city?"

„Yes, all the people are going to send to Pulse."

„And that's exactly why you're better hidden."

„Uh-huh." Lightning hung up and turned to the others, to explain her plan to them, but she stopped when she saw their faces. „What?"

„Why are you against the engagement of your sister?", asked Nora and cocked her head. „You'll see it when you get to know this idiot."

„Now what?", asked Sazh. „Now I'll pick up my sister and make sure that you get home. If someone see that you want to leave the city, PSICOM will hunt you and bring you back to the others in rank and file, like sheep. If you're lucky." As the words left her mouth, she saw that Hope swallowed and she also could see the panic in his eyes. „But this won't happen as long as you stay close to me."

„I have a question.", said Nora, before Lightning had a chance to go. „Why do you help _us_ of all people?" First Lightning answered the question with silence, then turned away from them and headed for the exit. „Personal reasons.", she answered. She didn't want any of them to know the reasons, why she took all these hardships. Lightning didn't even know herself why she did it. Maybe she felt sorry for them? Whatever the reason was, she had to carry out her plan, there was no turning back now. Lightning heard the group followed her and led her into her garage. As expected, both aero bikes were still there. „We're taking these, it's faster this way."

„But there are only two." Then Lightning went to the street and stopped the first one with an aero bike. „I have to confiscate this.", she said, while pulling out the driver. She scared the driver away with her death glare and hinted grab for her gunblade, before she looked to the others. „Now we have three. Climb on."

Lightning commanded Sazh and Dajh to take the 'confiscated' aero bike, while Lightning used her own and Nora and Hope took Serah's. „Ms. Farron, could Hope drive with you?", asked Nora, before she could climb on on her aero bike. „Why?", asked Lightning and Hope in unison. Then she pushed Lightning away from her son, to whisper something in her ear. „It would be better for him, if he's with someone like you." With someone like her? Should she be offended? „Should I be offended?", asked Lightning, while Nora giggled. „No, I meant that as a compliment.", she replied and smiled at Lightning.

„I think it would be better if _you'll_ take care of him." Lightning wasn't in the mood to play his babysitter. „I have confidence in you, Ms. Farron. Or should I say..." Nora looked briefly at her shoulder plate. „Sergeant Farron?"

„Just call me Lightning and forget about the formalities." The silver-haired woman nodded and looked at her quizzically. „So what?"

„Alright.", sighed Lightning and returned to her aero bike. „Climb on, kid.", she ordered as she climbed on herself. „Um..." She looked at him over her shoulder and saw that he looked confused at his mother, who in turn nodded and smiled at him joyfully. „What did you tell her?", he whispered to her, but she heard every word. „Nothing. Climb on, sweetie." Then Hope held his forehead and looked at the floor to hide his red face. „Hurry up!", called Dajh who was sitting with his father on their aero bike. He looked as if he could no longer wait till they're finally driving.

Lightning looked at Hope again and patted the empty space behind her. „Climb on, kid.", she repeated and this time he did as he was told. „Hold on." Lightning waited until he held onto her waist, but that didn't happen. She looked once again over her shoulder to him. „So?"

„Uh..." Lightning rolled her eyes, grabbed his wrists and put his arms around her waist. „Don't let go, or you'll end up as mud.", she said, before she started her aero bike and flew with Nora out of the garage. „Follow me.", she called to Nora and Sazh, as she flew to the bar, were Serah was.

**A.N.** Soooo that was it. Well I planned to update weekly, but I guess it depends on how many people like my story (and how many reviews I'll get) See ya next time^^


	2. l'Cie

**A.N.** So, here's chappy 2. I decided to update now, even though I still don't know if anybody (except for Lightning8910 (thanks for your review btw)) like this story. I decided to update in hope to get more reviews. Guys, I've worked on this story for months and it would mean the world to me if some of you could tell me how you like (or dislike) this story. I won't beg anyone to write reviews, I just asking you all nicely^^ Now let's get on with the story, hope you like itx3

**Salvation**

Chapter 2: l'Cie

When they got there, Lightning immediately jumped off her aero bike and went into the bar. She saw the weird people in there, who stood in her way during a mission. Great. „Serah?", she called into the bar and got everyone's full attention. But she just wanted the attention of a particular person. A moment later Serah emerged out of nowhere. „Hi, Lightning."

„We have to go, Serah."

„Go? Where to?"

„Out of Bodhum."

„Huh? Why's that?", asked Serah shocked. „Because of the purge."

„But we won't get purged, right?"

„Yes, but...Just come with me." Lightning took her little sister's hand and dragged her to the exit. „But...Lightning!" Before Lightning could get out, a pretty tall and blond guy suddenly came in. Snow...„What's going on here?", he asked puzzled, while looking down at the two sisters. „That's none of your business!", snarled Lightning and tugged Serah with her. „Help me, Snow, my sister wants to kidnap me!", she screamed playfully and extremely dramatically and overdid it so much that one could thing she's going to murder her, instead of kidnapping her.

„Don't worry, your hero's going to save you.", said Snow, who apparently played along Serah's ham. _Hero, my ass!_, thought Lightning unnerved. When Serah freed herself from her grasp, she turned back to her and saw her clinging onto Snow. „Serah, I mean it!", growled Lightning, but Serah didn't listen to her, she was too busy hiding from her kidnapper. „What's up, sis?", asked Snow instead. Lightning suppressed the desire to beat him unconscious and hissed instead:„I'm not your sister!"

Snow apparently ignored her flippant tone, and repeated his question. „What's wrong?"

„I told you it's none of your business! Now come with me, Serah, we don't have much time." Finally Serah came out again and looked clearly concerned. „Not much time? What do you mean?"

„Come out, then I'll show you." Lightning went out of the bar but was not only followed by Serah, but also by this huge idiot and his childish gang who called themselves NORA. „Are we going now, soldier girl?" asked Sazh. „In a bit."

„Uh...Who are these people?", asked Serah confused and looked at the group. Sazh and Nora waved at her, Dajh pretended to drive a race and Hope sat silently on her aero bike and waited till something happened. „Your friends?"

„Don't be ridiculous, Serah. I just help them to get out of here. So that they won't end up in Pulse."

„You're helping them?"

„Wow! Then sis has a good heart after all!", said Snow, while grinning at her widely. „I'm not your damn sister! You're lucky that I love my little sister so much, or I would've killed you long ago with conscience and with joy!", growled Lightning in Snow's direction. „I can't leave you here alone, Serah, that's why you're coming with me.", said the soldier with a softer voice. Confusion was still reflected in Serah's eyes. „Where are you going anyway?" Then Lightning looked at Nora. „Where do you live?"

„Palumpolum." The pink-haired soldier nodded and looked at her sister. „Looks like I'm going to Palumpolum."

„But that's pretty far away!" Lightning just shrugged her shoulders. „If Serah goes to Palumpolum, I'm coming with you.", said Snow, but that was the last thing Lightning wanted. „Absolutely not!"

„Come on, sis!", begged Serah, while the soldier stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. „Out of the question!"

„Why not?" Lightning didn't answer but grabbed her hand and went with her to her aero bike. Serah struggled, but Lightning was way too strong for her. „Let her be if she doesn't want to go.", said a black-haired woman. „Stay out of this!", growled Lightning, when she arrived her aero bike.

„There's a boy already.", said Serah. „Yeah, thanks, I know that."

„How about if Serah flies with me—"

„_No_!", she interrupted Snow. „Why not? Snow also has one."

„I said no!"

„Give in, soldier girl. It would be much more practical if they fly together.", said Sazh and everyone agreed. „Come on, Light." Lightning snorted and then gave in. „Alright." Then Serah hugged her tightly. „Thank you, Claire.", she whispered. „Yeah, yeah.", she grumbled, pushed her sister gently away and climbed on her aero bike. Moments later, Snow came with his own pimped aero bike and helped Serah to get on it. Lightning started that thing and led the group.

During the flight everyone introduced themselves once again and started to talk. „Is this your fiancée?", asked Nora Serah, who nodded happily. „Yes, he is."

„Unfortunately.", muttered Lightning to herself. „Congratulations.", said Nora and Sazh then. Lightning just glowed quietly to herself and tensed. „What's wrong with him?" Lightning winced when she heard a voice behind her. Then she remembered who it was and realized that she completely forgot about the little kid, who sat behind her.  
„You'll find out soon enough." Lightning felt that Hope turned away briefly to look behind him, where Snow was talking with his mother and Sazh about his 'exploits'. „I think...I can already guess why you don't like him."

„Good." For a while there's silence between her and the boy. The only thing that broke the silence were the aero bikes and Snow's chatter. „Uh...Lightning?"

„Yes?"

„What did my mother tell you earlier? Why did she want me to go with you?" Lightning recalled the short conversation in her mind before she answered. „She said it would be good for you if you stay with me. No idea what she meant."

„Maybe she meant that you're a good company for me?" Hope suggested thoughtfully. A good company? „I don't think so." Besides the fact that she'll help them to get home, she was anything but friendly. She was also an emotionless soldier who wouldn't hesitate to kill on command. How could anyone think that someone like her would be a good company for a kid? Moreover a quiet, timid and weak child. She certainly agreed to finally have peace. And what's what she had? A child around her neck and the complete opposite of peace.

And as a bonus, Snow was there too. This turned out to be a great day. „Sis, you know, we're flying to the Hanging Edge.", said Snow, who suddenly flew beside her. „I know that. And don't call me that!"

„Do you want to personally bring them to the purge?" Lightning rolled her eyes. „Yes, that's what I'd planned. I'll get them out of the purge and give them hope to get back home, only to betray them and personally send them to hell." Her statement literally dripping with sarcasm. „I got it. No reason to freak out."

„Snow, that was just her sarcasm. If she freaks out, then...you'll know it.", informed Serah. „Okay..."

„You rather leave her alone.", advised Sazh. „Snow should better shut up.", muttered Hope to himself, but Lightning heard it loud and clear. This surprised her a little. „Is that so?"

„Well, I'd prefer to not mess with you." Lightning couldn't suppress a small smile. Luckily, no one saw it. „Smart boy."

„On the other hand I'd like to see what you'd do to him."

„Beat him up of course.", answered Lightning. „Don't be so severe with him.", said Nora. „He just wants to be nice to you."

„I think it would be nice if he'd let me and my sister alone.", grumbled the pink-haired woman. „Ah, now I understand.", she said and immediately Hope and Lightning looked at her confused and asked in unison:„What?"

„You're afraid that someone will take Serah away from you, am I right?" How could she have guessed that? That was partly the reason why she didn't want them to be together, but mostly it was really the fact that Snow was an idiot and didn't deserve her sister. Lightning didn't answer and looked straight ahead again. „Lightning...?", began Hope, but Lightning ignored him and drove faster, while Hope was thrown back slightly and had to hold onto her tighter.

* * *

After they flew a few perceived hours, they finally arrived the Hanging Edge. They could see how the next trains arrived and that the Pulse Vestige was transported somewhere. „How about we save some more people?", suggested Snow, while Lightning glared at him darkly. „Yeah, good idea, genius. You could also go to a few PSICOM soldiers and ask them nicely to shoot us immediately.", she growled.

„How do you want to take away so many people? Would you just go down there and steal the train, without even knowing where you're going to bring them to?" Snow fell silent and the soldier knew that he really had no plan. „If so, everyone on this train are already as good as dead! PSICOM would only call for reinforcements and kill all 'l'Cie'."

„Lightning's right.", said Sazh, who called her by her name for the first time. „We can do nothing for them."

„Shall we just let PSICOM bring so many people to Pulse?"

„_Yes_!", replied Lightning sternly and final. „We can't do anything for them. But at least we can help _them_." Then she pointed to Hope, Nora, Sazh and Dajh. Snow held the handlebars tighter and clenched his teeth. „She's right, Snow.", said Serah quietly. „You're just a stupid hothead, Snow! With your demented idea you hadn't only put the people on the trains, but also _us_ in danger! And someone like you is calling himself a hero? As far as I know heroes save people and don't precipitate them into ruin! Serah really deserves someone better than you!"

„Sis!", hissed Serah and looked at her angrily. When she was angry they were even more similar. „Hey, guys, we get company.", called Sazh to them, while pointing to a few monsters that flew towards them. Lightning knew this kind of monster. „Apparently PSICOM thinks we're fugitive l'Cie."

„How'd you know that?", asked Nora. „These monsters belong to them. They're used when a rebellion can't get brought under control, for example, or in that case to destroy l'Cie."

„But we're not l'Cie!", said Hope, while clinging tightly onto her. „They don't know it. And they wouldn't believe us when we tell them. We should've been more careful."

„We? Who leads us here? During your argument with Snow you've become careless.", said Sazh and got a death glare from Lightning. „Shut up!" Then Lightning took her gunblade and shot at the monster. Sazh could help her attack them, because he led two guns with him. Then they were surrounded by a horde of flying monsters that attacked them all at once. Lightning initially thought that Nora might have problems, but she could also dodge the attacks very well. Lightning sighed loudly as she saw that PSICOM soldiers followed them on aero bikes. „I'll take care of 'em.", called Lightning to the group, who looked at her confused and worried. Lightning turned on the autopilot on her aero bike so that Hope didn't have to fly.

She'd installed this thing recently because she thought it could be very useful. „Hold onto this.", commanded Lightning, took Hope's hand and placed it on the handlebar. Then she got up and grabbed the edge, to not fall down. „Lightning, what are you doing?", asked Hope in confusion, but she didn't answer. The soldier waited until a monster came closer and jumped at it. „Lightning!", cried her sister, but she ignored her. She had to concentrate.

Lightning grabbed the foot of the monster and let it bring her to the soldiers. As she got closer to a PSICOM soldier, she jumped off that monster and landed on the aero bike. Lightning shot at a particular point of that aero bike and jumped it off before it exploded. Midair Lightning laid back her arms and legs and headed for the next one. She thrust her blade on the 'roof' and stood at the edge of the aero bike. „You're dead!", shouted the soldier inside it. But Lightning grabbed his arm and pulled him out. „You first!"

Then she flew on to the next one and jumped off. This time she held on to the roof of that aero bike and kicked the soldier out, before he could do something against it. She stood at the edge of that thing and joined the others. „Well done, soldier girl!", said Sazh. „Wow, I've never seen Lightning in action before.", said Serah to her fiancée, who also looked very impressed. „We have to get away quickly!", called Lightning to the others.

„We split up! Sazh, you go with—" Lightning couldn't finish the sentence, because a bullet hit Nora's aero bike and crashed. „_Mom_!", screamed Hope in horror and watched as his mother fell into the depths. Without hesitation, Lightning jumped off the aero bike and fell towards her. The aero bike would've been too slow.

Lightning laid back her arms and legs to fall faster. „Take my hand!", she called out to Nora, when she was getting closer to her and reached out for her. Nora came out of the wreck and jumped towards her, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to take her hand. The pink-haired woman stretched as far as she could and took Nora's hand. Lightning couldn't save her from the fall, but at least she could provide them a soft landing.

But apparently it wasn't necessary, because the 'hero' came to their rescue. „Lightning!", called Snow and held out his hand. Lightning took it without hesitation. In this moment she saw that more soldiers flew towards them. Laboriously she pulled the silver-haired woman up. „Take her!", she commanded. Snow and Serah helped her on the aero bike. „You okay?", asked Snow, while Nora nodded. „Yeah, mom's are tough." Then they turned back to Lightning, as she spoke. „Go on. I'll meet you in Palumpolum!"

„What?! No!", yelled Serah frantically. „We can't leave you here!"

„If you don't, they'll kill us all, so do what I say!" Then she looked sternly at Snow. „Let me go!"

„Hell no!"

„We can escape.", said Nora, but Lightning shook her head. „It's better, when I hold them in check. You'll have better chances to escape."

„I won't leave you!", repeated Serah and looked as if she was going to cry any moment. „You'll probably have to. See you then, baby sis." Lightning loosened her grip on Snow's hand and slowly slipped from his grasp. „Damn, Lightning!"

„Get yourself out of harms way!" Lightning let go of Snow's hand and fell into the depths, when she slipped completely out of his grasp. „_Lightning_!", they all cried in shock. Even though she fell a few meters, she could still see that Hope did something. _What is he doing?_ It looked like as if he desperately pressed all sorts of buttons on her aero bike. _Is he doing, what I think...?_ Her guess was confirmed when the energy of the aero bike went out and fell into the depths together with Hope. „_Hope_!", she heard the others and saw that Nora almost jumped too, but Snow held her back. Lightning looked back to the crashing aero bike and could even hear of this distance Hope's panicked screams.

Then the aero bike was activated again and flew back and forth. The boy probably wasn't a good flyer. Then it suddenly flew towards her. Lightning dodged it, by outstretching her arms and legs to fall more slowly. As the aero bike flew below her, she clung onto it and was pulled along. „What the hell are you doing?!", she screamed.

„I just—" Hope broke off, when he saw a monster flew towards them to ram them. He steered sharply to the left to dodge the attack, but he noticed too late that they flew directly to the Pulse Vestige and made a crash landing. They smashed a hole into the outside wall and landed somewhere inside the Vestige.

* * *

As Lightning regained consciousness again, the first thing she felt was this splitting headache. She sat up and looked around. She's never seen a place like this before. It was pretty huge and looked strange. Then she remembered again. She was in the Pulse Vestige. Hope had crash landed there. _Wait a minute. Where is he?_ Lightning looked around more closely and discovered the boy, who's lying unconscious a few meter away from her.  
The pink-haired woman stood up and went over to him, while she noticed that her aero bike was a pile of junk. She knelt down and shook him. „Hey." Hope woke up and moaned softly. „What happened...?"

„By your great flying skills, we're in the Pulse Vestige! What the hell were you thinking?" The relief that Hope was fine faded as quickly as it had come. „Well...", he mumbled and avoided her penetrating gaze. „So?!"

„You've saved my mother, so I wanted to save you.", he muttered. „I didn't want to be saved."

„I know. Still, I wanted to do it. I owe you." Lightning sighed deeply. „I said I'll bring you home. This also means that I'll protect you." Hope looked at her guiltily, while Lightning sighed once again. „It doesn't matter anyway. Now we should find a way out of here."

„There's no way out.", said a strong female voice, that Lightning heard once, suddenly. „At least not anymore." Hope and Lightning looked around and then saw a black-haired woman who stepped out of the shadows. She was one of the two women she'd seen today. Behind her the red-headed girl came out too.

What were their names again? Vanille and...Fang? „You two?" Lightning immediately stood up and looked at them closely. „Lightning? What are you doing here?", asked Vanille confused. „I could ask you the same." Lightning heard that Hope stood up behind her and took a few steps closer her. „You know them?"

„Kinda..."

„We're here because we belong here.", answered Fang. „And what are you doing here now?"  
„We crash-landed.", replied Lightning tersely. „Why do you belong here?" Fang came closer and turned to the side, to show her her right arm on which a curious-looking, white tattoo was. „Because we're l'Cie."  
„L'Cie?!", repeated Hope shocked, while Lightning reached quickly for her gunblade. _I've helped l'Cie?_ „Hey, stay cool, sunshine. We don't wanna fight you."  
„Why not?"

„I'm not in the mood.", she replied with a shrug. „But aren't you our enemies?", asked Hope nervously. „Why? Just because we're Pulse l'Cie? If we really are your enemies, we wouldn't have hidden for thirteen days, but made a bit of l'Cie-terror."

„We just want to return to Gran Pulse.", said Vanille. „So you can put your weapon away again." Lightning looked closely at the two again, but they really didn't look like as if they're going to attack them, so she put away her gunblade. „What do you mean with 'there's no way out'?"

„I meant just that. All exits are locked. Oh well, except for that one.", said Fang and pointed to the hole through which they'd come. „We won't get out of here?"

„Nope."

„At least until we're in Gran Pulse.", added Vanille. „Oh, great!", grumbled Lightning before she turned to Hope and saw he completely froze from fear. Lightning snapped her fingers in front of his face and pulled him out of his trance. „Get ahold of yourself!" The silver-haired boy looked at her in total panic. „How shall I do this? We're imprisoned here with two l'Cie and are going to end up in Pulse! Didn't you want to prevent that?"

„I _will_ prevent it!", she yelled, making the boy flinch. „How?", asked Fang. „Anima won't open the exits."

„Anima?"

„The fal'Cie." Lightning's eyes widened. „There's really a fal'Cie in here?" Fang and Vanille nodded. Immediately Lightnings determination came back. „Then I'll take care of it."

„What?!", cried the other three in unison. „If the exits are blocked by him, I'll ensure that he will open up.", said the pink-haired woman and went away to look for a way to get to the fal'Cie. „Don't!", said Vanille and held onto her arm. „Let go of me, l'Cie!", she growled and pulled away from her. Vanille just looked at her sadly and withstood her death glare. Lightning then broke eye contact, when she heard Fang sigh. „You can't be serious. Look, either he'll brand you as a l'Cie, or he transforms you right away into a Cie'th."

„Cie'th?", repeated Hope. „Yes. These are l'Cie, who haven't fulfilled their focus. They become crystallized monsters and attack anything that moves."

„Something like that won't happen to me.", said Lightning. „Oh, and why?"

„Because I'll kill him before he has the chance to brand me."

„What?!", cried Vanille in shock. „How can you be so sure that you succeed?", asked Fang. „I'm not. I'll just try. I don't want to end up in Pulse!" Then she looked at Hope, who winced at her gaze. „Hope, are you coming?", she asked, and used his name for the first time. „Or do you want to stay with them?"

Hope looked to the two l'Cie, which tried to convince him to not go with her by shaking their heads. „I, uh..." For Lightning he was way too slow till he made a decision, so she went away without waiting for his answer. „Wait, I'm coming with you!", she heard him call, but she didn't stop, or slowed down, she just let him ran after her. But then she heard that not only the boy ran after her, but also the l'Cie. „We're going with you.", said Vanille. „Yeah, I want to watch you becoming a l'Cie and then I can mock you." Lightning just glared darkly at Fang before she lead the way and looked for the right path to get to this fal'Cie.

After they went for an eternity through the maze, they finally arrived the center. „Are you sure you wanna do this?", asked Vanille anxiously. „Yes.", answered Lightning resolutely. „If that's the only way to get out of here..."

„Don't say, nobody warned you!", said Fang, when the last door opened. Now they faced the fal'Cie. For them it just looked like a giant, metallic hemisphere. Lightning barely had entered the room, before the machine lit up suddenly and this metallic thing opened. Some kind of robotic arms came out of the ground and attacked them. They all dodged the attack and took their weapons, Hope on the other hand wanted to flee, but the exit was sealed. „Let us go, you monster!", shouted Lightning, but the fal'Cie attacked again. Fang and Vanille helped her in the fight, even if Lightning didn't quite understood why the two l'Cie helped her in the first place.

Lightning noticed during the fight that the crystal, which that thing had, was his weakness and attacked it. Thus they defeated him quickly. But instead of opening the exits it shone even brighter. Then they felt vibrations as if the Pulse Vestige was attacked from the outside. „Everything's going to collapse!", called Lightning to the others. „We gotta get outta here!", cried Hope in panic and tried to open the still sealed door. The little kid lost his nerves pretty quickly. „Open this damn door!", screamed Lightning and attacked the fal'Cie again.

Then it suddenly flashed brighter and she was temporarily blinded. When she opened her eyes again, she realized that their environment extremely changed and that they floated in the void. And the fal'Cie also had a different look. This was probably his true form. You could clearly see more of him: body, arms, face, and something embraced him, too. Suddenly strings of light shot out of it and tied her hands and feet. Lightning struggled, but then she suddenly felt a sharp pain above her left breast and clenched her teeth tightly, to dissuade herself from screaming in pain. Besides the pain she felt that this thing let her go and that she fell into the abyss. Then she lost consciousness.

**A.N.** Well, I guess now you can anticipate what's happening nextxD Don't forget to review and the next update will probably be next weekend. Until then^^


	3. The Vile Peaks

**A.N.** So...here's the 3rd chappy. Enjoy.

**Salvation**

Chapter 3: The Vile Peaks

_A huge creature roared into the sky. It was really big and looked very strong. It was some kind of a monster you don__'t see at all, because it only appears when the world ends. It fell into lava, but it didn't die. Then it looked like, it's trying to hold something up. It wasn't clear what it was. But it was huge__..._

„Lightning!", called a voice suddenly. Who called her? „Lightning!" Then she felt that someone shook her. „Rise and shine, sunshine!", called another voice. „Do you think she is...?", asked a third voice anxiously. „No. Look, she breathes." Lightning finally opened her eyes and stared into three faces that were too close for her liking. She looked at them a little longer before she remembered who these guys were. „She's awake!", said Vanille happily and smiled at her. „Ya had a very long beauty sleep there, sunshine.", added Fang with a grin. „A-are you okay?", asked Hope and examined her for injuries.

„Get away from me!", grumbled Lightning and pushed them all away from her. Did they have come so close to her? „See? She's okay. Oh and another thing, sunshine." Suddenly Fang came closer to her again and looked into her eyes amusingly. „I've told you!", she yelled. Lightning pushed Fang away again and sat up. As she looked around, she noticed that she was surrounded by...crystal? „Where the hell are we?"

„I think it's Lake Bresha.", said Hope. „Lake Bresha?" The Lake Bresha was directly below the Hanging Edge. How could they fall so far and still be alive? And why was the lake crystallized? „What happened?" Hope had no answer, so he said nothing. „So?"

„I'll tell you what happened.", said Fang. „You've indeed defeated Anima, but he's branded you both and now you're l'Cie. Anima crashed into this lake and crystallized it." Lightning's eyes widened. „I told you, didn't I?"

„Stop saying this!", growled Lightning and stood up. „I warned you, right Vanille?"

„Japp.", agreed Vanille and nodded. „This cannot be happening. If we really are l'Cie, we would have a brand." Then Hope took a few steps closer to her and showed her his left wrist. Lightning sighed and held her forehead as she really saw a l'Cie brand there. „Okay...and where's mine? I don't see a brand anywhere." Then something flashed briefly under her shirt. „I think it's right over there.", said Fang, while tapping on the part that just shone briefly. Lightning pushed her hand away, turned away from them and unzipped her shirt to look.

When Lightning saw that she really had a brand it felt like...as if the world collapsed. That damned fal'Cie had cursed her! He'd cursed her, dammit! He made her a fal'Cie slave! In this moment Lightning was more than furious. She never felt so angry before. Ever! Even though she'd destroyed this fal'Cie, it wasn't enough for her. She was so angry that she could destroy the whole Cocoon! Lightning's eyes widened at this thought. She was a l'Cie for nearly five minutes and she already was thinking like one! „Uh...Lightning?" When she heard Hope's voice, she zipped her shirt up again, but didn't turn around to them. „Do you have a brand?" She just snorted in response. „That's probably a yes.", said Fang. „Have you seen anything while you're unconscious?"

„What do you mean?"

„Did you have any strange dreams?" This was followed by silence. Lightning knew what she meant, and she knew too well what she dreamed about, but she said nothing. „I think...I've seen some huge thing..." murmured Hope. „...Ragnarok.", mumbled Lightning. She knew exactly what this monster was. „Ragnarok?", asked Fang, while Lightning nodded „Then...this must be your Focus."

„Focus?"

„Yeah, never heard of it?" Hope said nothing in response. Maybe he just shook his head. „If we become l'Cie, we get a Focus from the fal'Cie. A kind of mission, we must fulfill."

„Exactly. But there are still a few hitch.", added Vanille. „Hitch...?"

„Yes. First: we have to find out for ourselves what this vision means. And..."

„And what?!", growled Lightning and turned back to the three. „Well, if we don't complete our Focus, we'll become Cie'th. We'd already mentioned that."

„And if we complete the Focus? Are we free then?", asked Hope hopefully. „Uh...no, not really...", muttered Vanille. „Spit it out already!"

„When we complete our Focus, we gain 'eternal life'." Lightning raised an eyebrow. „We'll become crystals.", added Fang. Then Lightning went around in circles and growled to herself. Why the hell did something happen to her? She wasn't even a fal'Cie slave but was also caught in this lose-lose situation! She really wanted to lay everything in ashes. „Hey, stay cool there, sunshine.", said Fang and placed a hand on her shoulder. Lightning shook her hand away and glared at her. „Freeze!", commanded a voice behind them suddenly. They all looked in the direction from which the voice came from and saw that PSICOM soldiers surrounded them. „Place your hands behind your heads!", commanded the soldier. Hope, Vanille and Fang immediately did as they were told, while Lightning sighed deeply.

„You fall off the purge train?", he asked them and went over to them slowly. Lightning finally put her hands behind her head casually. Apparently something happened in the Hanging Edge. She hoped the others were alright. „Maybe...", said Lightning coolly. Then the soldier came closer and practically held his gun in front of her face. „Are you talking back to me?" Lightning remained as cool as ever when she's in a battlefield, and grinned slightly. „Nice gun.", she said in a slightly deeper voice before she attacked him in a flash and defeated him.

His friends immediately came to help, but they also had no chance against her. She defeated them all so fast, that she didn't even break a sweat. _Hmph, amateurs..._Then she turned back to the others, who froze on the spot. „Don't stand there like that.", said Lightning and raised an eyebrow.  
„We're just so engrossed in this show. You don't fight so bad.", complimented Fang and grinned at her. Lightning didn't respond to her compliment and turned away from them. „Apparently something happened up there. Now they're looking down here for 'l'Cie' who survived. We should go, before more of them appear.", she said and went ahead without waiting for the response of the others.

She heard them following her. „I hope the others are alright...", muttered Hope under his breath, but the pink-haired woman heard him loud and clear. „They're certainly okay. If they're smart enough, they fled when we crash-landed in the Vestige.", said Lightning, but secretly she was also worried about them. She was especially worried about her sister. When Snow didn't protect her, she'll probably have to kill him. „Where are we going?", asked Vanille. „Ask sunshine here.", said Fang. „Um, Lightning?"

„We'll go to the Bresha Ruins. Maybe there are no soldiers.", replied Lightning annoyed. Then they all shut up and Lightning had her peace. On their way through Lake Bresha they had to fight against a lot of PSICOM soldiers. The pink-haired soldier defeated most of them with her gunblade. When they finally arrived the Bresha Ruins, they saw many soldiers, who were searching for them. „Now what?", asked Hope, as they hid behind rubble. Lightning looked around carefully and discovered a small airship. „We'll take this.", she said, while pointing to the airship. „Can you fly that thing, anyway?", asked Fang skeptically. Lightning had been taught to fly airships, but she actually never really had to fly. At least not an airship. „It's not a question of can or can't. Some things in life you just do.", said Lightning instead and went ahead. „In other words, you can't."

„I've learned it. But it's quite a while ago.", she said and waved them over to her. „Oh great..."

„Stop whining." Lightning led them to the empty airship without getting caught by PSICOM. Lightning sat down on the cockpit and started the engine. They flew directly into a tunnel, which brought them to the center of the ruined city, and they were also detected immediately. Lightning knew that many PSICOM soldiers would be waiting for them on the other side, but she took that risk. The moment when they flew through the tunnel, their followers were shooting at them. The pink-haired woman tried to dodge the attacks and also shot back at them. When they finally reached the end, she heard an explosion, but flew on undeterred. „Did we get 'em?", asked Vanille joyfully. „We got _one_ of 'em.", grumbled Lightning and flew evasive actions to shake off their pursuers, but they didn't give up.

„They're still behind us!", cried Hope scared. She tried again with her evasive maneuvers, to at least dodge the shots, until a rock wall appeared in front of them. Lightning flew up and maneuvered the ship between the cliff. „How are we going to lose them?"

„Shut up and let me fly!", she replied to Hope's question and finally reached the end of the cliff. They flew so high until they broke through the clouds and gazed at Eden. But there was no time for sightseeing, because PSICOM were still after them. Lightning flew evasive maneuvers once again and fired back. Then she flew lower through the clouds again and a rocky landscape appeared. Directly below them was the sea and the soldier flew straight at it.

However, before they plunged into the water, she moved the machine up and flew right over the water. Most of their pursuers hadn't been so lucky. The others, who succeeded this stunt, kept chasing them. „Tch!" _Can't they leave us alone?_, growled Lightning in her mind.  
She flew between the cliffs and tried to lose them in there. She dodged their attacks, until she saw something that looked like a bridge. She couldn't precisely identify it because she had to focus on more important things.

The pink-haired woman shot on the rocks and flew through it quickly, while their pursuers crashed into the falling rocks. _I did it._ Then Lightning flew back up. „Did we lose them?", asked Hope nervously and practically clung on his seat. „Looks like it, yes.", she said as she flew towards Eden. „Wow.", said Vanille astonished. _It's all the fault of the Sanctum fal'Cie!_, thought Lightning angrily and glared at Eden. PSICOM and the complete Sanctum were just puppets of the fal'Cie. If there's no fal'Cie, there wouldn't be the purge. Most likely there wouldn't even be Cocoon, but that would be the best for everyone. Thus there would be no war against Pulse. The fal'Cie had to be destroyed!

Lightning was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the others. What pulled her out of her thoughts, however, were the shots that were fired at them. A new troop chased them. _Oh, great._ Lightning dodged their attacks again, but they were just as stubborn as the last troops. „They're still following us!", cried Hope frantically. „Thank you, I know that myself!" Then Lightning got an idea. She flew closer to the glowing fal'Cie to lose them in there. As expected, the ships were destroyed by the powers of the fal'Cie. „I think I like this fal'Cie.", said Fang. Shortly after that, their ship was hit too and crashed. „Do you still like him?", asked Lightning and tried to manage a soft landing. Fang didn't reply and that was a good thing, this way she could concentrate herself better on the landing.

They crash-landed, but at least the airship was still in one piece. Still dizzy from the flight, they all left the airship and found themselves in a dark place, which was full of junk. And it also got dark by now. Lightning knew this place. She's been here on missions before. They were in the Vile Peaks. „Great flying, sunshine.", said Fang, who still had some balance problems. „Do you think you would have done this better?", asked Lightning and put a hand on her hip. „Nope."

„Then shut up and be happy you're still alive." Their little argument was interrupted, when monsters attacked them. Lightning immediately took her gunblade and ran into the battle, followed by Vanille and Fang. They were only small fish and were quickly defeated. „I'm glad that's over.", sighed Vanille. Now they finally had time for other things. To introduce themselves once again, for example, because the others did that already. Lightning just stood there and was deep in thought. She almost reached Eden. But she knew she wouldn't get far. A shield was around Eden to prevent that someone like them — l'Cie or other intruders — enter it. It was kind of funny that Lightning wanted to 'destroy' the city, where Serah wanted to study in. But someone had to do something against these selfish fal'Cie! Her thoughts were once again interrupted by her 'companions'. „What do we do now?", asked Hope, who was totally dissolved by the events.

„What do we do now? Try to find out what our Focus is, of course.", replied Fang. „You don't know it yourself?", asked Lightning and crossed her arms over her chest. „No." Then Fang showed them her brand again. „As you can see my brand is white. It was like this since I woke up. The memories that have to do with our Focus are just gone. Vanille doesn't remember either, but her brand is still black and intact."

„Intact?", asked the silver-haired boy confused. „If you want to know how long it is to Cie'th City, look at your brand. First the arrows appears and finally an eye. If the eye's wide open, it's over. My brand is frozen. That means I won't become a Cie'th." Immediately Hope looked at his brand, but of course it was still on its early stage — she could even see it from this distance. „Don't worry, kid, you still have plenty of time.", said Fang and lied a hand on his shoulder. „Let's go.", said the soldier, and went ahead. She stopped however, when Fang spoke to her. „Where to? Do you even know where you're going?"

„Yes. There.", answered Lightning and looked up at Eden, which shone brightly. „Eden?", asked Hope shocked. „You'll get killed, if someone sees you!", said Vanille, who was also shocked. „I just think that someone should do something against the fal'Cie. Keep running — it's die or turn Cie'th. There's no place for l'Cie to hide. No...they want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door! Now that I'm a l'Cie, the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings? A fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light. It probably ordered the purge too. Pulse and Sanctum fal'Cie? They're all the same. And we're all the same for them: expendable. I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave."

„So? What are you gonna do?", asked Fang. „Destroy it."

„By yourself?", asked Hope shocked. „You can't be serious! Besides...If something happens to Eden, it's lights out Cocoon." Hope's eyes widened as soon as he said it. „You _want _that!"

„Now you're thinking like a l'Cie, sunshine. Now that you're one, you want to fulfill your Focus and destroy Cocoon, huh?"

„Our Focus doesn't matter! I won't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live is up to me."

„Don't you mean, how you die?", said Fang. „Think like that, and it's already over. Better to pick your path and keep moving. Don't worry. I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world."

„Shouldn't we first..."

„No.", interrupted Lightning Fang. „Do what you want. I'll go." And then she went away, without turning back. She was supposed to bring Hope home, but her hatred for the Sanctum was the only thing she was thinking of at that moment. She'd scarcely gone ten steps before she heard someone following her. But only one of them. „Wait for me!", called Hope after her and caught up with her. Lightning stopped and turned to face him. She also noticed that Fang and Vanille went their separate ways, but she heard Fang say that they'll see each other again sometime. „What?"

„You promised to take me home.", said Hope and looked at her directly. „I haven't promised anything."

„And what about my mother? She asked you to take care of me, right?"

„Yeah, but that's all. She'd _asked_ me to. I haven't promised her anything.", she said and turned around to leave. „But..." Suddenly he ran past her and stopped in front of her. „I'm still going with you!"

„Do what you want.", she grumbled as she went past him. „But don't expect me to play your babysitter."

„You liar...", he muttered, whereupon Lightning turned back to him. „What did you say?"

„You're a liar.", he said louder and glared at her. But she could clearly see the hurt in his eyes. „You said you'll bring us all back home and protect us. And now you want to leave me here?" Lightning turned away from him. Basically, he was right. A few hours ago it has been her goal. „You should've ignored us, as we've waited to get purged. It would be better to end up in Pulse, than being a l'Cie! It's all your fault that we're l'Cie!" In a flash Lightning turned back around and slapped Hope. By the impact Hope fell to the ground. „_My_ fault? Did you just say that this was _my_ fault? _Who_ wanted to play hero? _Who_ couldn't fly and made a crash-landing in the Vestige? _Who_?!"

„...M-me...", muttered Hope unintelligibly. „Exactly! _I_ just wanted to find a way to get out of there, while _you_ froze on the spot!" In that moment, she felt a slight tingling sensation in her chest. It almost felt like as if she's electrically charged up. „So don't ever say that this was my fault!", she growled. Hope leaned up on one arm and held his cheek, which was now already deep red. She could also clearly see how tears gathered in his eyes. The silver-haired boy nodded and avoided eye contact.

Lightning immediately reached for her gunblade, when she suddenly heard noises behind them. She turned around and saw that a new troop of PSICOM soldiers surrounded them. As she finished the first ones off, she felt that this strange feeling became stronger. Eventually, she felt so loaded that she instinctively reached out her left hand and cast a powerful lightning strike, that defeated them all. Astonished, she looked at her hand, where still a few sparks were. She'd totally forgotten that l'Cie had magical powers. Then she tried something else. She focused heavily and then a little fire ball shot out of her hand, but it wasn't nearly as strong as the lightning magic.

After she tried water, ice and aero magic, she found out that her lightning magic was really the strongest one. How ironic. Then she tried another magic. She wondered if she also had healing powers. She focused heavily and then her hand shone light green and a warm sensation went through her. She really had healing powers. Then she looked at the boy, who turned his back to her and still held his cheek. Lightning sighed and turned him over. Hope looked at her with red and puffy eyes from all the crying and she immediately felt bad for treating him like that.

She knelt down to meet him at eye level and reached her hand out to him. Hope winced and closed his eyes, as if he was waiting for her to slap him again. If she didn't hold him on his shoulder, he'd probably run away. Lightning rolled her eyes and placed her hand gently on Hope's cheek and cast a healing spell. He immediately opened his eyes and looked at her confused. „I'm sorry.", murmured Lightning as she healed him further. A few seconds later she let go of him. „Better?" Hope only nodded in response and looked at her puzzled and with big eyes. His cheek was still quite red, but looked much better.

Then Lightning stood up again and turned her back to him. „We should move on.", she said and went ahead. „Um..." When she heard he still didn't follow her, she looked at him over her shoulder. „Are you coming?" Hope nodded and ran after her. „And...Where to now?", asked Hope, after they went through the Vile Peaks for a while. „Palumpolum."

„That means you're bringing me home?" Lightning nodded. „Yes. In addition I'll get to Eden from there too."

„You really want to go to Eden?"

„I've just said it, haven't I?"

„Uh, and what should I do?" Lightning shrugged. „How should I know?"

„I'm a l'Cie too. You said it yourself 'Keep running — it's die or turn Cie'th'."

„You're a good listener."

„What shall I do? I certainly don't want to end up as Cie'th." The pink-haired woman thought for a while. „You can help me to fight against the Sanctum. Assuming you _can_ fight and won't stand in my way."

„I can fight! I'll do my best! I-I just need to get stronger..." He mumbled the last sentence. „We shall see.", she said as they were once again surrounded by PSICOM soldiers. Lightning took her gunblade and attacked their enemies. Of course, they were no match for the Guardian Corps soldier. She defeated them one by one. „They're no match for me.", said Lightning satisfied, as she finished off the soldiers.

„Lightning, look out!" Lightning turned around quickly, when she heard a noise behind her. She tightened her hold on her gunblade and was ready to strike, but that was no longer necessary. The soldier behind her was hit by a blue and yellow boomerang, followed by a huge fireball. Lightning looked at the silver-haired boy who caught the boomerang. From this distance, she could clearly see how his l'Cie brand flashed briefly. She'd also noticed that his magic was stronger than hers. How was that possible? A little child had greater magical powers, than a trained soldier? Hope came up to her and looked at her anxiously. „Are you okay, Lightning?" Lightning nodded. „Yes. That wasn't so bad, kid.", she said and patted him on the head. „Really? Thanks."

Then he broke the eye contact. „You're hurt.", he said and wanted to touch the small wound on her arm, but she backed away from him, before he even had the chance to touch her. „Just a scratch.", she said and turned around to leave. „Lightning...", he muttered as he followed her. „Call me Light."

„Light...Are you sure you're okay? I have healing abilities as well. I can heal you, if you want."

„That's not necessary."

„Oh...Okay then..." Then there was an oppressive silence between them. But at least it was quiet and Lightning was finally able to concentrate on their surroundings. It wouldn't take long before they arrived the Gapra Whitewood. „Um, Light?"

„What?"

„You know where you're going, right?"

„I've been here on missions before."

„Missions...? But...Aren't you a part of the Sanctum? I mean...as a soldier?"

„The military is composed into two main branches: The Public Security and Intelligence Command, known as PSICOM and the Guardian Corps. I was Guardian Corps. The whole thing with the purge and destroying l'Cie, or whatever else comes from Pulse is PSICOMs baby. The GC is only concerned with crime and monsters that pose a threat to humans. L'Cie excluded, unless we get orders to take care of them too. Basically, we have nothing in common."

„I see." Suddenly Lightning stopped and Hope, who went right behind her, went against her. „What's wrong?", asked Hope puzzled. „We'll rest here.", she said and looked down at the boy, who looked quite exhausted by now. „No, we can go on." Lightning rolled her eyes. „You're not helping me, when you're exhausted. Get some rest, I'll look around.", she commanded, took her gunblade and went away to make sure that no enemies were near.

Once she made sure that that no PSICOM soldiers or monsters were around, she went back to the boy, who was sleeping soundly. He sat on the floor and had made himself comfortable on a rock. She looked him over. He looked very peaceful. No longer so scared. But still...A little child like him didn't deserve to become a l'Cie. Lightning sighed and sat across from him on another rock and laid her gunblade on her lap. That was all her fault. She'd dragged the boy with her. She wished she'd tried harder to bring Nora around to let him fly with _her_. She knew she'd bring him no good. Who could take better care of a child than the mother?

The pink-haired woman sighed again, when she had to remember her own mother. But she pushed the memories aside and refocused on the more important things. Could she really take the boy with her to Eden, to destroy the Sanctum? This action would be really irresponsible. He could die there. He'd still got all his life in front of him and had a family. She was, however, a trained soldier, who had no family, or rather had a sister who no longer needed her. She basically had nothing to lose. Serah had Snow now. She didn't need her protection anymore. Lightning shook her head to banish these thoughts and closed her eyes to rest for a while. But she woke up again, when she heard something. She looked around alarmingly before she realized that the sounds came from Hope. He turned around to lie more comfortable and muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'Mom'. „Not by a long shot.", muttered Lightning and closed her eyes again. Even when she dreamed, she was still well aware of what was happening around her.

Basically, it took an hour for Lightning to sleep deeply, until then she was still fully conscious and was able to perceive the slightest noise. As Lightning then heard noises from Hope's direction, she opened her left eye a crack. Hope woke up and looked at her. He didn't move for a while and just looked at her. In this moment she wondered what's going on in his head. Then he moved. He crawled towards her. But why? Did he want to wake her up, so that they could go on? Did he fear that she was asleep and now there's no one to keep watch?

Then Lightning took a deep breath and made herself more comfortable, but because of this hard rock it wasn't easy. She saw him jump and froze on the spot. She could also clearly see the fear in his eyes. When she sat quietly again, she kept an eye on him. He waited a while and looked at her intently, as if to make sure she's still asleep. And then he came closer and the closer he came, the more cautious were his movements. It was as if he stalked at a dangerous predator. Lightning didn't move, and acted as if she would sleep soundly. As Hope finally reached her, he carefully sat down next to her. He waited again for a while, before he came a little closer and laid his head on her shoulder. Lightning suppressed the urge to back away from him and let him snuggle up to her. _He surely is cold._, tried Lightning to reason why he was doing this and watched him out of the corner of her eyes.

* * *

Lightning woke up at sunrise and realized that Hope snuggled even closer to her in his sleep. Even though Lightning didn't really like physical contact, this was not as uncomfortable as she thought. She shook the boy, but it took a while until he was fully awake. „Hey, wake up.", said Lightning and shook him again. Finally he opened his eyes and quickly slipped away from her, when he saw how close he was to her. „I-I'm sorry, Lightning! I just...I...uh...", he said desperately, while looking at her in shock and with a bright red face. „Were you cold?"

„Uh...Y-yeah! I'm really sorry..."

„Just forget it, kid. It's okay.", she said and stood up. „Let's go."

„Y-yes!" Lightning put away her gunblade and went ahead, while Hope followed her. As they went a few kilometer, they went into PSICOM soldiers, who inspected a pulse machine. Before they were even aware of what was happening, Lightning rushed into battle and defeated the soldiers. „What were they doing?", asked Hope and stood behind her.

„They probably thought that we'll use this Pulse machine to escape.", replied the pink-haired woman, while eying the machine suspiciously. „That's actually a good idea. Wonder what this is for...?", he wondered and went closer to the machine. „Don't touch that! You're gonna hurt yourself!", called Lightning after him, but Hope ignored her and climbed onto the machine. „This thing can certainly help us."

„Leave it!" But he just climbed on it and sat on top of it. Suddenly, the machine activated and moved forward. „Stop! Stop already!", cried Hope, who couldn't control it. Lightning reached for her gunblade. „I told you, to leave it!"

„Wait, Light! I think I know how it works!", called Hope, guided the machine past her and led her now. Lightning followed him with a sigh. But they really were faster with this thing. Hope just swept their enemies out of the way. But when they arrived a small cliff, he crashed along with the machine, while Lightning elegantly jumped down. „Nice landing.", she commented, as she reached the bottom. „Let's keep moving."

„Wait...Still feeling a bit...winded.", said Hope and slowly got up again. „You're too soft.", said Lightning and went past him. And he immediately ran after her again. „W-wait up!"

Then they went in silence through the Vile Peaks. Or almost in silence, to be exact. During their walk Lightning got many reasons why she should leave the boy behind. He was weak, anxious and had zero stamina. It was really annoying to her, when she always had to slow down and he run off at the mouth. He knew perfectly well that they're on the run, so they should go faster and be quieter, but he couldn't even keep up with her. He was just a little wimp.

When she went over a bridge and Hope fell down for the thousandth time, Lightning's patience snapped. „This isn't working.", she said annoyed and stopped, but didn't turn around to him. „I mean you're a liability. You just slow me down."

„What...?" She heard him getting up quickly. The pink-haired woman went on. „I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when—ah!" Lightning got on her knees, when her l'Cie brand began to glow and burn. „Y-you can't leave me here! You have to take me with you!"

„Enough!", growled Lightning and tried to ignore the burning pain in her chest. „The whole world is against us! I can barely keep himself alive, let alone some helpless kid! I don't have time to baby you! You wanna get tough? Do it on your own! Go home by yourself!", she yelled and then her brand shone brightly.

Below her a pink symbol appeared and she immediately ran out of it. Just as she turned back a huge monster appeared. It looked like a knight. „This cannot be happening.", she said, as the knight went to the boy. Hope stepped back and fell. As the knight lifted his sword to attack him, the silver-haired boy tried to protect himself somehow. „Look out!", called Lightning and ran over to him to block the attack.

The soldier was able to block the attack just in time and pushed him back. Lightning stood protectively in front of Hope and kept an eye on her opponent. „You okay?", she asked the boy. „Y-yes...", he replied. Lightning looked at this knight and she felt like she knew him. She'd heard stories, where l'Cie could summon Eidolon, who helped them in their battles. But why was he attacking them? Actually, he should _help_ her to fight their enemies...Then he ran past her and attacked Hope. Lightning followed him quickly, pushed Hope out of the way and blocked his attack again. _Why's he attacking Hope?_, she wondered, as she had to block another attack, that was also meant for Hope. Then he attacked him with a lightning strike. _Oh, come on!_, she grumbled in thought as she ran to Hope, who's still lying on the ground, pulled him closer to her — almost hugged him — and blocked the lightning magic with her gunblade.

She practically pressed his head against her chest, but she didn't really care at the moment, she just wanted to protect him. But why did she wanted to protect him so suddenly? She'd often played with the thought to leave him behind and suddenly she wanted to protect him? „Leave him alone, will you!", she shouted at the Eidolon, which stopped abruptly. She looked at the Eidolon and totally forgot about the way she was still holding Hope against herself. Suddenly the Eidolon vanished again and her brand began to glow brightly. It felt as if she took the Eidolon in, because she could clearly feel his presence inside of her. And then she knew the Eidolon's name: Odin.

„L-Light...?" When Hope began to speak, she realized that she still pressed his head against her chest. Lightning cleared her throat and let him go immediately. His face was bright red and he avoided eye contact and instead looked at her brand, that still shone pinkish. „Your brand looks different...", he said to change the subject. „Was that an Eidolon? Like l'Cie can summon?" Lightning sighed and looked away from him. „Magic and mumbo jumbo...I must have hit my head when you crash-landed in the Vestige."

„Um...Am I really in your way?", asked Hope then and looked sadly at her. She stood up, put away her gunblade and turned around to leave. Hope stood up and ran after her. „Wait! I'll do better! I'll try harder! I'll—"

„Hope.", interrupted Lightning and stopped. Even though she wanted to leave him, she couldn't let Odin hurt the boy. That's when she realized that she wanted to protect him. She should've let Odin do his work and finish Hope off — thus all her problems would be solved — but she couldn't. Since when did he mean something to her? Perhaps her protective instincts rose into view, because Serah no longer needed her protection and she _must_ protect someone, like it was...her Focus...And because this kid was way too weak to protect himself and still _needed_ protection...Well that must be the reason, why she wanted to protect him so badly.

Lightning sighed and looked over her shoulder at Hope. „I'll toughen you up. I'm sorry about before." Hope looked at her relieved and happily and followed her. A few hours later, they finally reached a gate, which led to Gapra Whitewood. „On the other side is the Gapra Whitewood. Keep your guard up."

„Yes.", replied Hope, as Lightning opened the gate, while holding tightly onto her gunblade.

**A.N. **Okay that was all for now. And I still don't have any reviews (except for one). Guess you guys really don't like this story huh? And I was so proud of this one. Either way, I'll upload the last few chappies and if someone happens to like this story then please tell me this. It would really cheer me up.


	4. Humans are Pets

**A.N.** So, here's the next chappy.

**Salvation**

Chapter 4: Humans are Pets

Lightning went through the gate first and hid behind a few bright leaves. When she was sure that there was no danger, she waved at Hope to tell him to come to her. Hope left his cover and ran over to her and stood behind her. Lightning looked around carefully. When she discovered no danger, she relaxed again. Hope noticed this and put his hands on his knees and sighed. „Can't believe we made it.", he said relieved. A moment later the door closed again. „That'll slow down the pursuit."

„But aren't there troops on this side? We can't relax just yet."

„Right. We press on.", said Lightning and took a few steps ahead. „I'll take point. You watch our backs."

„Actually..." Lightning stopped and turned to the boy. „Why don't you let me take point?", he asked, while looking at the floor. This surprised Lightning. She didn't think he would ever get the idea to take point. „Can you handle it?", she asked anyway. Hope ran in front of her and looked at her firmly. „It's not a question of can or can't." Lightning couldn't suppress a small smile. He really was a good listener. „Now you're learning.", she replied and sent him forward with a nod. Hope smiled happily and went ahead. „Keep your eyes front. I'll watch the rear."

Hope nodded. „Got it." When they went on Lightnings smiled a bit wider. Even though he was still very weak, he wanted to prove her he could show strength too. Maybe it wasn't so bad to have him around. On their way they met a lot of monsters, but they were no match for the trained soldier. „Have you ever been here before? On duty, I mean.", asked Hope, as they went a few kilometer. „No, I haven't.", answered Lightning. „This area's covered by the Woodlands Observation Battalion. You scared?" Hope looked for the right words. „Uh, not really. I'm ready to fight if I have to." Lightning knew he was lying. She had the feeling that he was afraid of her reaction when he told her the truth. Although Lightning didn't really know why she was doing this, she took her survival knife out of her red pocket and held it toward Hope.

He looked confused to her and the knife. „To keep you safe.", she said shortly. Hope then took a step closer and took the knife. He looked at it, while Lightning went to the elevator, which was directly in front of them. „I'll want it back."

„Lightning." She stopped and looked at him over her shoulder. „...Thank you." The pink-haired woman nodded and moved on. She waited until Hope was standing behind her and activated the elevator. That thing brought them up and then they could go on. They were silent most of the time. Hope seemed to be very focused on his job, otherwise he would have started a conversation with her long ago. But it was better this way. Hope suddenly stopped and looked up. „What is it?", asked Lightning and came a few steps closer to him. „We need to hide!", he said, grabbed her hand and dragged her behind a branch.

Lightning let him drag her along, too surprised to do anything against it, and hid with him. She looked up and saw a couple of soldiers, which flew past them on aero bikes. Funny, she hadn't noticed them...„They don't seem like they're even looking for us. I mean, we're l'Cie and we're on the loose.", said Hope as they left their cover again. „PSICOM's keeping it all under wraps. They don't want their failure publicized. Better to lose us than lose their pride.", explained Lightning. „So the other soldiers don't know about us. Right?"

„Right. They don't know _anything_ about any fugitives.", she said and went on with him. Then again there was silence between them. Lightning still thought about, what she should do with Hope. She couldn't just abandon him. But she couldn't drag him into her fight like that either. What should she do? Lightning was torn from her thoughts when Hope called her. She turned to him and saw a Behemoth that guarded a gate. „This is the guardian of the fal'Cie.", she said and walked beside him. „We must defeat him to get through?"

„Yes." The Behemoth noticed them and growled. „Don't worry, I'll take care of it.", said Lightning and instinctively summoned a pink, rose-shaped crystal from her brand. Then she took her gunblade, threw the crystal into the air and destroyed it by shooting at it. Seconds later Odin appeared. Lightning ran into the battle and the Eidolon followed her. The two attacked the Behemoth with powerful lightning attacks. When he became weaker, Odin transformed into his Gestalt form and turned into a horse. Lightning climbed on and was now fighting with Odin's twin blades.

Actually, she'd expected the fight to be tougher, but with Odin it was almost too easy. „Light, I'll help you!" Lightning stopped the attack and saw Hope came running towards her. „Stay where you are!", she called to him. When she turned back to the monster, she couldn't dodge his attack anymore. His paw hit her and threw her away. When she hit the ground, the air was pressed out of her lungs. She took a quick breath again and tried to get up, but the big open wound that ran all over her torso, prevented her to do so. „Lightning!" Hope knelt beside her and looked at her anxiously.

„Haven't I told you to stay out of this?" Hope didn't answer, but began to heal her wounds. „I just wanted to help you.", he muttered. Seconds later a warm feeling went through her and she felt how the wounds closed. The pain vanished and Lightning stood up again. „Wait—"

„No, I need to help Odin." Lightning pushed the boy away from her and ran back into the fight. „You stay right where you are, understood?", she called. The soldier grabbed Odin's weapon and climbed on the Eidolon again. With a few targeted hits, the Behemoth got weaker. Then she got ready for her final attack. She jumped off of Odin and turned midair to summon a mighty lightning storm and defeated the Behemoth. Lightning landed again, gave Odin his weapon back and sent him away. Then she heard Hope came running to her. „Light, you okay?", he asked and looked at her anxiously. „Yes, I'm fine.", she replied, but she winced as her half-healed wound began to ache again.

Unfortunately, Hope noticed it. „C-can I take a look?" Lightning glared at him darkly, which made him wince. He didn't expect her to undress in front of him, did he?! „No, that's just a scratch.", said Lightning and went ahead through the gate. Hope ran after her quickly.

Eventually they reached an area where PSICOM bred his monsters. Unfortunately, they were forced to kill every single one of them, otherwise they couldn't go on and would be trapped. Lightning didn't mind, but Hope became more exhausted with each fight. But he tried to hide it from her. Whenever she had the time, Lightning healed her wounds that she got from the Behemoth. She found out that her healing magic was not as strong as Hope's. But she didn't ask him for help, she had too much pride to do this. Who would ever ask a child for help?

When they finally left this area, her wound was not as bad as before. „Get some rest.", said Lightning, when no monsters were in sight. Hope was totally exhausted and immediately sat down panting. Lightning looked further for possible dangers around and heard that the boy was playing with her knife. „What's eating you?" she asked, without turning to him. „Okay, I can tell you're hung up on something. Is it the l'Cie thing?" When he didn't answer, she turned to him and put a hand on her hip. „Not really...", he mumbled in reply. „What is it then?"

„You wouldn't understand." Lightning came closer and knelt down in front of him. „You and I are partners, Hope." Hope glanced up at her, before he avoided her gaze again. „It's just..." He let out a deep sigh. „It just sucks that I'm so weak. I mean...you have to constantly take care of the strong monsters and I've been having trouble with the little ones..." Lightning sighed softly. „Don't sweat it. If you train hard, you'll become stronger."

„Easy for someone like you to say."

„Hope." Finally he looked up at her. „When I started the training, I wasn't better than you." Hope raised a skeptical eyebrow. „Believe me. All you need is training." When he nodded, she ruffled his hair. „Ready to move on?"

„Yes." They stood up again and kept going. „Uh, Lightning?"

„Hm?"

„Could I...use one of those?", he asked and pointed to her gunblade. Lightning looked down at him in surprise. „Bit too heavy for you."

„Okay.", he said disappointed and looked at the knife in his hands. Lightning didn't know what to say to cheer him up — she's never been good in this stuff — so she just put a hand on his shoulder. After they once again changed the tier and had to fight many monsters, they saw some dead soldiers lying on the ground. „What happened here?", asked Hope, as they came nearer. „Bad luck. They came looking for us and found something worse."

„We can't just leave them like this!" Hope went closer to them. „Don't touch anything!", snapped Lightning, grabbed his arm and quickly pulled him away. Hope fell and landed on his butt. „Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy." Hope gazed downward. The soldier sighed and turned away from him. „How can I explain?" She thought for a moment and then turned back to him. Hope still didn't look at her, so she came a few steps closer and knelt down in front of him. „Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct. Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you.", she said and stood up again.

Hope stood up as well. „Strategy. Good. I'll take anything to help me get through this." Lightning nodded and then they went on again. Before they knew it, dust was approaching. They went really far by now and Lightning had the feeling that Palumpolum was near. She looked at Hope and saw how exhausted he was. „We'll rest here." When he heard this, he sat down on the floor. „I'm sorry."

„Don't sweat it. Rest up, I'll look around." Then she went away, without waiting for his answer. Nearby she discovered a few PSICOM soldiers, who also discovered the bodies. They talked about a monster that's raging here, but they didn't talk about l'Cie. Apparently they really didn't know anything about them. She crept back to Hope and found him asleep under a tree. Lightning sat down beside him and Hope laid his head on her shoulder, as if he felt her presence. Involuntarily she had to smile. No one ever had the guts to come near her like that. Either the boy was very brave, or very stupid.

Lightning looked up when she heard noises. And they came closer. She shook the boy immediately. „What is it...?", mumbled Hope sleepily. „Someone's coming.", whispered Lightning. Hope immediately jumped. „Be quiet, maybe they haven't found us." But when she heard a shot and a bullet pierced into her left shoulder, she knew they found them. „Light!" Lightning ignored the pain, grabbed Hope's wrist and dragged him along. But they didn't get far, because soldiers blocked their way.

Lightning searched for another way out, but they were surrounded. A squad of about thirty men surrounded them. „Not so fast, l'Cie.", said one of them. There was no other way out. She couldn't protect Hope all alone. She needed help. The pink-haired woman lifted her hand and placed it on her brand. Immediately the soldiers aimed at her, but they didn't shoot. Apparently, they wanted to know what she's doing. She summoned her crystal. „Stay close to me.", she whispered to Hope as she threw the crystal to the soldiers. As expected, these idiots shot at the crystal. They thought it was a grenade. As the crystal shattered, Odin appeared. Most of the soldiers attacked the Eidolon, so Lightning could take the initiative and kill the first ones.

Hope helped her and attacked the soldiers with magic. When they defeated all the soldiers, Lightning sent Odin away and went to her knees. To summon Odin a second time after such a short time, tugged at her strength. „Lightning!" She jumped at his panicked exclamation. Then everything happened so fast that even she couldn't really get what happened. Hope ran in front of her and then she heard a shot. Lightning's eyes widened as the silver-haired boy stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. She caught him and let him lean on her.

When she saw the soldier, who just shot at Hope, she cast a lightning spell and defeated him. She looked around, before she struggled to get back on her feet and carried the now unconscious Hope away from there. They couldn't stay after all. More soldiers might show up there as well. Lightning carried Hope a few meter until she eventually used up all her energy reserves. She hid him under a tree and sat down. She laid Hope carefully in front of her and started to observe his wounds. Without wasting any more time, Lightning took off his yellow jacket and his black shirt to examine his wound. The bullet hit him just above the heart. She put two fingers on his neck. His pulse was very weak.

She reached into his pocket and pulled out her knife. Then she tried to get the bullet out of him. Hope screamed in pain and a few agonizing minutes later it was done. Unfortunately, she had nothing to stop the bleeding, so she simply put her hand on the wound and cast a healing spell. Her hand glowed green and Hope's body took all the energy up. The bleeding stopped and the destroyed tissue regenerated instantly. When it was done, she tested his pulse again. It was stronger and steady.

She'd saved him. Lightning sighed in relief and dressed him. Then she took care of her own wounds, which she could ignore till now — well, kinda. She also had to remove some bullets out of herself, before she could heal herself. When that was done as well, she lifted Hope's upper body and pulled him closer to her so that he could lean on her, between her legs. Of course, just to keep him warm! She put her arms around him, closed her eyes and laid her head atop of his. After this fight she'd earned this rest.

Lightning awoke, as the silver-haired boy moved. She lifted her head, opened her eyes and looked directly into his leaf green ones. „L-Lightning...?"

„Hm?"

„Why...?"

„You were shot.", interrupted the pink-haired woman. „I've healed you and wanted to keep you warm."

„Oh, I see. Thank you."

„No problem." Then she saw concern in his eyes. „And what about you? You were also injured."

„Nothing serious. I've cured it." For a while Hope just stared at her. That was so awkward that Lightning wanted to look away, but she couldn't. „You look exhausted."

„I'm fine. I slept for a while." Even though she jumped at every little noise, she at least could sleep a bit. Hope looked away from her and leaned against her. He laid his head back on her chest and his hands on hers. Moment later, a warm sensation went through her, which gave her new strength and her half-healed wounds healed completely. „You don't have to do this, Hope. You should save your energy.", said Lightning, when she realized what he's doing. „But I like doing it for you, Light. That's the only way I can thank you for everything." That left her speechless. Even though she never asked something in return, he wanted to do something good for her.

„...Thanks." Hope's head turned back to her, and he looked at her a little surprised. Then he smiled. „You're welcome." Lightning couldn't resist a little smile in turn. As Hope saw it, his smile grew even wider — if that was even possible. Then she ruffled his hair and held her knife in front of his face. „I had to borrow it for a moment.", she said. Hope took the knife in and flipped it open. She'd cleaned the knife before with her uniform. „Rest a while. We'll have to move on soon.", she said and watched as his cheeks turned red. „Okay." He put the knife back into his pocket, then laid his head back on her chest and closed his eyes. Lightning did the same and took a snatch of sleep.

When she woke up, it was already dawn. It was time to move on. A few more meters and they would arrive Palumpolum. „Hope.", she said, while shaking him slightly. „Hmm?"

„We need to move on. Palumpolum's near."

„Okay...", he mumbled sleepily, while sitting up to stretch himself. Then the two stood up and pressed on. A short time later, they finally reached the exit of Gapra Whitewood and looked at the city Palumpolum. „And? How is it to be home again?", asked Lightning and looked at the city. „Weird.", he replied. „I'm happy, but somehow...not."

„I can understand you." That's how she felt too, when she thought about seeing Serah again. What will she say when she told her she'd become a l'Cie? „But it'll get better. Let's go." This time she took the lead again. It didn't take long before the two reached the city. However, there were a lot of soldiers who apparently were waiting for them. Or the Sanctum ordered another purge. The two l'Cie hid behind some boxes and searched for a way to get by unnoticed. „We can make it. Get to the station, and board the train for Eden.", said Hope. „You think it's still running?"

„Well, if it isn't, we'll make it run."

„Then punch straight into the heart of the Sanctum? Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'Cie." Lightning's thoughts were interrupted when Hope took her hand and shook it briefly to gain her attention. „There's some underground tunnels not far from here. I used to play in them when I was a kid. No one uses the entrance anymore, so even the army doesn't know about it. But I know where it is. We can sneak in under their noses.", he said and pointed in the direction where the tunnel was. „Sounds good." Hope grinned at her. „Great! Here we go.", he said and lead the way. They crept past the soldiers until they finally arrived said tunnel. They climbed through the entrance and after they went along a short corridor, they found themselves in a huge room.

It was brightly lit and just...huge. However, Lightning didn't feel safe and kept an eye on the entrance. „Don't worry, it will be fine. Only kids like me know about that entrance."

„They'll find it.", said Lightning. „They'll call in a team, and canvass the whole tunnel system."

„Then we'd better hurry."

„So, where's this thing come out, anyway?"

„Well, it...it — I don't really know for sure."

„We'll find out today.", she said put a hand on his shoulder as she went past him. Lightning took point again and together they went straight to the center, where some giant, orange thing floated. „This is the fal'Cie for food production.", said Hope. „Name's Carbuncle. That's one of our enemies, being Sanctum and all."

„So... Kill him, and cut off the food supply. That'll make us popular.", said Lightning and imagined this scenario. „I think people have enough reason to hate us, don't you?"

„Yeah, you're probably right. Hungry people make for angry people." There was a brief silence between them before Hope spoke again. „Look at us: Pulse l'Cie, using Sanctum fal'Cie to tell us where we're going. Sort of strange."

„Not really.", said Lightning. „We've relied on them our whole lives. The food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the fal'Cie. You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them. The rest of us, we're just leeches. Parasites."

„You think?" Hope walked a few steps closer to the fal'Cie. „They protect us, nurture us. They take care of, well, normal people. They treat us like we're special, almost like..." He searched for the right words. Lightning waited patiently and then he turned back to her. „Like we're pets!"

Lightning's eyes widened when he said that. He was entirely right with it. Now it all made sense. „Like pets...", she muttered and also took a few steps closer to the fal'Cie. „To them, we are just pets. That's it. Now it makes sense. I've been so blind. I was born into a fal'Cie world, raised on a fal'Cie leash. It was the only life I knew how to live. When it was taken from me, I was completely lost. Without a master to follow, my life has no purpose."

She paused a moment before she turned to Hope. „Hope, listen to me. This l'Cie curse, it took everything from me. My future. My dreams. I didn't want to think. So I fought instead. As long as I was fighting, nothing else was real. I was running away." She looked down and clenched her fists. „And you, Hope...You got swept along with me."

„But Lightning, I...don't understand."

„We don't go to Eden."

„What?" Hope's eyes widened. Lightning sighed as his gaze became serious and came a few steps closer to her. „I...", she began, but she didn't know what to say. „No. You told me to fight."

„I made a mistake!", she yelled and looked away from him. Hope walked away from her. „But — you can't do this. You can't just build something up like that, then abandon me." In a flash, she went to him and held him on his shoulders, so that he looked at her. „I won't abandon you. I won't."

„So what do we do now?", he asked. She had no answer, so she released him and turned away. „We're l'Cie!", continued Hope. „Ticking time bombs. Enemies of Cocoon. If we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?" Then she turned back to him. „I didn't mean we should give up."

„Then what battles do we fight? And against who? Tell me that!"

„I don't know yet.", she replied. Her voice was, compared to Hopes, yet calm and collected. „You don't know yet?!"

„That's right. I don't know yet. But I do know we can't lose hope." Hope sighed and walked away. „Hope? There is no hope. Not for l'Cie." Lightning followed him. „There's you." The silver-haired boy sighed again. „That's my name, not who I am." Then Lightning remembered her own childhood. „I was just like you.", she sighed and held her forehead. Hope looked at her confused. She didn't know why, but for the first time she began to tell someone about her past.

„My parents died. I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past. And I became Lightning. I thought that by changing my name, I could change who I was. I was just a kid. Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys. Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen."  
„That's not true.", said Hope and abruptly tore her from her memories. „Lightning doesn't only destroy." She looked at him in confusion, while he explained. „I mean...You are Lightning and I know that you don't only destroy but also protect." Lightning snorted and shook her head. „I've slapped you and wanted to leave you twice."

„But still, you've protected me until now. When I was seriously injured, you've done everything to protect me, right?" Lightning nodded weakly. „And this is the proof that lightning doesn't necessarily destroy. Also, your nickname is Light, right?"

„So what."

„Light's bright and warm. It protects us from the darkness." Lightning went silent. Somehow his speech really made sense. „You could say that..." Hope searched for the right words. „Well...To enemies you are Lightning. Like you said, they deserve no pity. But for friends you _are_ Light."

Lightning was speechless for a while. „That's...nice.", she said. She had no idea what to say to that. No one ever complimented her. „But now back to you, Hope." Hope shook his head and turned away from her. „Save it."

„Listen to me." Immediately Hope went silent and looked at her expectantly. „We go to your house." Before the boy could protest, Lightning continued. „It's important that you talk to your parents."

„My mother would be the only one who would listen to me.", he snorting. „Dad never had time for us, why should it be different now?"

„Because you're gone for a few days. He's your father. I'm pretty sure he does worry about you."

„I don't think so."

„It's worth a try.", she said, while looking at him seriously. „Right?" Hope avoided her gaze. „Hope." Lightning came a few steps closer and put her hand on his chin to turn his head to her, so that he looked at her. „It's important that you talk to them.", she repeated. „I want you to find the hope you were named for. Staying alive, I can help you with, but I can't — I can't give you hope. That's why you should go to them before we decide what to do next." Hope sighed deeply and looked down. Then she ruffled his hair.

„To fight without hope is no way to live. It's just a way to die." After a long moment of silence, Hop looked up at her. „Okay." Lightning nodded and ruffled his hair again, this time with more force to ruin his hairstyle. „Hey!", laughed Hope and tried to escape from her. The two smiled at each other before they went on. After a while they finally arrived the exit of this tunnel.

It was a lift so no one knew where they'll end up. Lightning went into the elevator, but Hope stopped and looked up as if he felt something. „What is it? Come on.", said the pink-haired woman. Hope nodded and caught up. Lightning activated the elevator when he stopped behind her. „I wonder what they'll say about this whole l'Cie thing...", muttered Hope to himself. „Me too. At least I'm wondering what Serah will say about this." They sighed in unison as they waited until the elevator finally stopped again.

**A.N. **Yeah...eh...guess till next time. (Maybe)


	5. Reunion

**A.N.** **Toaneo07 Ver2.0**: Well "onesided hopurai" means that Hope starts to like Light romantically, while Light just likes him like a little brother.

**Salvation**

Chapter 5: Reunion

When the elevator stopped and the shield around them vanished, Lightning took her gunblade and went ahead. Hope followed her immediately. In this moment they heard an announcement. Of course it was about them. _„__In a recently convened emergency conference the Sanctum announced the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to apprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution."_

Then she looked up at a multi-part screen on a building and saw Palumpolum from the air. _„__These images coming to you live from the scene in Palumpolum."_, said the voice and then they both suddenly appeared in the screen and it was zoomed in on them. The two looked up and noticed the airship, which prepared itself for landing. And now a battalion of PSICOM soldiers came too. They're trapped. „These are l'Cie. Show no mercy. They aren't people. They're targets.", commanded the head of this troop and Lightning recognized him as Yaag Rosh.

She looked at him angrily. Then Lightning felt how Hope bumped into her back. She had to get him out of here as fast as possible. It didn't matter what's happening with her, as long as Hope was safe. „Start running. I'll keep 'em busy." She heard him gasp and then took a step away from her. Maybe to turn to her. „But...!"

„You survive.", she said and didn't let her enemies out of sight. Lightning wanted to take action in the moment when he runs away, but she heard nothing from him. Then she looked over her shoulder to him and saw him still standing there. „What are you waiting for?", she hissed quietly. „I won't leave you."

„If you don't leave right now, we both gonna die!" Hope flinched at her tone and her glare, but he made no attempt to run away. „Run, Hope! I'll catch up later.", she said, even if she didn't believe it herself. She knew that she would never make it out of here alive. „You promise?" The pink-haired woman went silent for a moment. „I promise." Then she finally heard him run away. Before the soldiers could react, she summoned Odin, who immediately cast a lightning storm on the soldiers. Thanks to Hope she had enough power to summon her Eidolon. Almost half of the soldiers were defeated by this attack and when she'll kill them all as fast as she could, she could possibly keep her promise.

Now she also ran into the battle and shoot at the soldiers. She and Odin were a perfect team, and they could actually defeat all the soldiers — she made the final blow with her ultimate attack _Zentatsuken_. Then she sent Odin away and ran in the direction where Hope had run. She hoped no one followed him...She was kinda worried about him. Even if they weren't separated for that long. If only she could contact him somehow...Damn why did she sent Odin away? Now she wouldn't have got enough strength to summon him again...

_Dammit!_, she cursed in thought as she ran through the city. When she saw that soldiers flew past her on aero bikes, she realized that they found him. Without wasting any time, she ran after them. That she was discovered by other soldiers and that she had to fight them all to get through didn't care her in this moment.

She ran as fast as she could and eventually had the feeling to have lead on her feet. Finally she reached her destination. But there was no sign of Hope! Slowly panic shot through Lightning. Did they get him? Killed him? She would never forgive herself if that's the case! What the hell should she say to his parents?

Out of frustration she could pull her hair out. She just saw that PSICOM soldiers sent a few people to the purge! She'd followed the wrong soldiers! She wished she hadn't ordered Hope to run away...It would be her fault if Hope would be dead! It would be her damn fault!

Lightning's thoughts were interrupted when she heard an explosion from somewhere. She looked around and found the spot where the explosion was.

Like her namesake, she ran quickly to that place. Meanwhile this sensation on her legs increased, but she forced herself to keep running. The fear that Hope could be hurt — she didn't even know herself where this feeling came from — gave her enough strength to keep running.

When she finally reached her destination, she finally saw Hope. But that wasn't a pleasant sight. He fought against a giant bug-like monster. As she ran to him, she already saw how his combat skills have developed. „Hope!" The boy looked at her over his shoulder and smiled as soon as he saw her.

„Light!" She took her gunblade and stopped beside him, panting. Now Lightning noticed how exhausted she was. „You look pretty worn out...", said Hope and attacked the monster with a variety of magical attacks. „You too." The silver-haired boy didn't answer. There was one technique left that could help now. „Hope!" He looked at her expectantly. „Double Cure!"

„Okay!", agreed Hope and smiled at her. Then they began to heal each other. They already used this technique in Gapra Whitewood. When they had both regained their strength, Lightning gave him the next command. „Attack with magic, Hope!" He did as he was told and attacked with magic. He was not only a good listener, but was also good at obeying orders. While Hope attacked with magic, Lightning attacked with her gunblade. The fight was extremely tiring, but they were able to defeat him. When they were sure that no danger threatened, Hope came to her.

„Um...", he began hesitantly. Lightning turned to him and waited until he continued. „When I ran away, some soldiers followed me and called reinforcement before I could stop them. I thought no one would find me here, but then this thing came..." For some reason his report touched her. He'd managed to escape the soldiers and could hang on until she arrived. Lightning interrupted Hope. She was suddenly overwhelmed by her feelings and hugged Hope. Hope went silent immediately and tensed in shock.

He didn't expect this sudden action from her. Hell, she didn't even expect something like that from her either! After a few seconds, Hope relaxed again. „You'll be okay. I'll keep you save.", she said with a gentle voice that only Serah was allowed to hear until now. When Hope wrapped his arms around her, she put her head on his shoulder and hugged him a bit tighter. „Lightning...", he began hesitantly and got her full attention. „...I — me too. I mean, at least I'll try. I'll try to watch out for you, too." This touched Lightning deeply. When was the last time someone ever told her to protect her?

It never happened. And if it did, she couldn't remember. Then she pushed Hope gently away from her — but still held firmly onto his shoulder — and looked into his eyes. Judging by his gaze, he was deadly serious about keeping her save. Lightning giggled and poked his forehead. Hope also had to chuckle and the atmosphere was — at least for her — more relaxed. „Have I done well?", asked Hope and kept looking into her eyes. Lightning's smile grew a bit. He really needed to ask her that?

„Very well.", she answered, while ruffling through his hair. „The coast seems to be clean now. We should take advantage of that and quickly go to your house." Hope nodded and led the way.

* * *

When they finally arrived Hopes home, they stood on the doorstep. Lightning scanned the area to ensure that no one had followed them. „What is it? Ring.", said Lightning, as Hope couldn't bring himself to ring the bell. The boy took a deep breath and finally rang. A few seconds later Nora opened the door. Lightning smiled slightly when she saw her. So they all could escape. Nora's eyes widened when she saw her son. „Hope!" She immediately pulled him into a tight hug. Lightning watched them from afar, she didn't want to interrupt their reunion. „I was so worried.", she said and Lightning could even see that tears gathered in her eyes.

A few seconds later, she looked to her. „Ms. Farron...I mean, Lightning...Thank you for bringing Hope back home."

„No problem.", she replied, her smile never left her face. „You look happier than back then." The pink-haired woman looked at her confused. But Nora said nothing more and looked at Hope. „You've also changed.", she said and smiled. „Well..."

„Come on in." The two l'Cie did as they were told and entered the house. They went into the living room and met the whole group. Sazh, Dajh, Serah, Snow, and Hope's father were there. Hope's father looked — in comparison to Nora and Hope — very serious. Hope really was more like his mother. He wore glasses and a suit, and she somehow had the feeling that he was an important man.

He immediately stood up and went towards them. „Hope!" He sounded surprised and happy to see him again. She knew that Hope's father was not as cold-hearted as Hope said. She didn't get what happened then, because Serah squealed her name and jumped into her arms. „Sis, I'm so glad that you both are okay!" Lightning patted her back, before gently pushing away her. „Don't come near me, Serah." Her sister looked surprised and hurt. „I'm not your sister anymore."

„Sis, what are you saying...?" Lightning hated to hurt her sister, but she was a l'Cie now. A monster. Cocoon's enemy. She'd only bring harm to her sister. „What are you talking about, sis?", asked Snow, who also came to them. „It's for her own safety. And don't call me that ever again!", growled the soldier. „W-what do you mean?", asked Serah. Lightning sighed deeply. „I'm a l'Cie."

„I know." Her eyes widened. „You know?"

„We've seen you and the kid a few hours ago on television.", said Sazh, who was suddenly beside her as well. She didn't notice him coming. „So...Does that mean you all know that I'm a l'Cie, too?", asked Hope everyone „Yes.", answered Sazh for them all. „I..."

„It was my fault.", interrupted Lightning, while Hope looked at her in surprise. „Light..." She went over to his parents and put a hand on his shoulder. „It was my idea to go to the fal'Cie. The fal'Cie had locked all exits and I wanted to force it to let us go. I've dragged Hope along and after I defeated it, it branded us.", she explained and watched their reactions. First, they did nothing. Apparently they let her story sink in.

„I-it wasn't just her fault!", said Hope suddenly and stood almost protectively in front of her. „_I_ wanted to help her in the first place and _I_ crash-landed in the Vestige! If it wasn't for me, we would've never been in this situation..." Hope looked at the floor and the room was filled with silence. Nobody knew what to say. „Neither of you is to blame.", said Nora and broke the silence. The two l'Cie looked at her in surprise. „Hope was trying to help her and Lightning just wanted to bring them out of there."

„That's true.", said Serah and nodded. The others also agreed. Lightning didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet. „We just stay a few hours until we're rest up and then move on. If they found out you're sheltering l'Cie, they'll..." Then Hope's father interrupted him by putting a hand on his shoulder. „This is your home, Hope." Hope looked at him in surprise. Apparently, he didn't expect this reaction from his father. „Then we'll stay. If it's no trouble to you.", said Lightning. „Absolutely not." Nora smiled and Hope's father also agreed. „I'm Lightning Farron, by the way.", she said to Mr. Estheim and held out her hand.

„Bartholomew.", he said and shook her hand. As Hope talked with his parents about something, Lightning went back to the others. „Why are you still here?", she asked Sazh. „Dajh and I were worried about you and wanted to know if you make it here in one piece.", he answered and smiled at her. Then she looked at Dajh, who played with the little Chocobo at the other end of the room. Then she heard chirping and before she could react the small Chocobo chic flew front of her face. „Chocolina's also glad that you're okay.", said Sazh amused. „You should rest for a while, sis. You're certainly exhausted!"

„Well..."

„Come with me.", interrupted Serah and pulled her with her. „Where are you taking me?", asked Lightning. However, her sister didn't answer and seconds later she found herself in the bathroom. „You certainly want to take a shower first, don't you?"

„Actually..."

„Of course you do.", she interrupted again and smiled. „I'll wash your uniform."

„That's not necessary."

„Yes, it is. Look you're totally smeared with blood. You certainly had to fight a lot of monsters, right?"

„Well..."

„Then it's decided." Lightning tried to suppress a smile. She really loved her sister, but sometimes she could be quite...hyperactive. „You should smile more often." Lightning didn't reply. „Come on, take off your clothes.", said her little sister with such a sweet voice she never really liked, and looked at her expectantly. „Don't you want to go?" Is she going to stay there and watch her showering? And she hoped to finally get some privacy...„I want to take your stuff right now. The washing machine is in another room." Apparently she already knew where these kind of things were. „Alright...", she sighed and took off her clothes.

She threw her clothes at Serah and then stepped into the shower. She turned on the water and sighed contentedly as the ice-cold water touched her sweaty skin. „You know..." Lightning winced when she heard Serah's voice. „I thought you left.", she said. She hadn't noticed her, because she turned her back to her all the time. Serah continued as if she hadn't said anything. „I haven't seen you smile so much in the last years, as in these ten minutes before." The older Farron went silent. „And you've supported Hope. You even blamed yourself for all this."

„It _is_ my fault, Serah. If I hadn't interfered and saved them from the purge then..."

„Nora, Hope, Sazh and Dajh would be in Pulse now.", finished the younger Farron. „You saved them, Light. You've just helped a couple of complete strangers."

„It was a mistake."

„Why?"

„Hope said it himself, it's better to end up in Pulse than being a l'Cie." Then there was silence between them. Lightning began to wash her body, hoping that Serah would finally leave her alone now. „You and Hope seem to become close." Lightning sighed inwardly. Looks like she'll have her around her neck a bit longer. „Maybe."

„He's also allowed to call you Light.", she concluded. „So what?"

„You've loaded the blame on you to protect him." Lightning kept silent and began to wash her hair. „And you've protected him a few hours ago when PSICOM found you."

„It was necessary!", she hissed to silence her. When she really went silent — and for a very long time — she sighed. „Serah...", began Lightning, her voice was soft again. „We wanted to survive. So we became partners."

„Where's the knife I gave you for your birthday? You've opened your present, haven't you?" Lightning raised an eyebrow, at the sudden change of topic. She was silent and rinsed the shampoo out of her hair pink. „...Hope has it."

„Hope? You give a fourteen year old a knife?"

„It's only for his own safety!" Meanwhile, Lightning wished that Serah would finally go away. But of course she didn't. „You care very much about him, huh?"

„He's just a kid, Serah. He's not ready to fight yet.", she replied, without answering her question directly. „I have a feeling there's more to it."  
„Bullshit...", muttered Lightning. „Lightning, it's not bad if you care about Hope for other reasons."

„What are you talking about? What other reasons?"

„I think Hope is not only a partner in battle for you, but...a friend." Lightning had almost thought she will say 'boyfriend'. She almost laughed when she thought that Serah could have meant _that_. That was really ridiculous! „I care no more about him than you."

„Does that mean, he's like a little brother to you?" _A little brother?_ „Serah, enough."

„I worry about your well-being, too, Light."

„That's not necessary."

„Yes, it is." Lightning stayed longer than necessary in the shower, but she made no attempt to get out. First, she'd needed this refreshment and secondly this was the first sisterly talk in a long time. „You always train so hard to protect me. I'm worried that you overdo it."

„Don't worry about it." Then a short silence filled the room before Serah spoke again. „Claire..." When she used her real name, she turned around and looked at Serah through the almost transparent pane of glass. „Are you happy?" What was that for a question? „When you're happy, I am, too." Lightning could swear to see disappointment in her eyes. Now she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Serah immediately gave her a pink towel. Lightning took the towel and wrapped it around her body. „I'm happy, Claire. With Snow." Immediately her eyes became cold, just like her skin after the shower.

„Please give him a chance. Please!" When Serah looked at her so pleadingly, she had to look away. „Please, Claire. Do it for me." Lightning just couldn't refuse her. For her sake she could try to know Snow better. „Alright...", she sighed. „But that doesn't mean I'll allow a wedding." Serah nodded. „After all you're giving him a chance to know him better."

„Don't mention it." She wanted go past her sister, but she blocked the way. „What about you? Are_ you_ happy?"

„As I said..."

„Stop thinking about me! Just think about yourself. I also want you to find your happiness." Lightning looked at her sister and saw that she's serious. „We can talk about it, when this is all over, okay?" Serah sighed and let her head hang. „Okay." Then she patted her on the head before she took her boots and went out of the bathroom.

She'd hardly made two steps into the hallway before something ran into her. Something small. She looked down and looked directly into a pair of emerald green eyes, that looked up at her in shock. Hope had run against her and his bright red face laid now between her breasts. „L-Light! I-I'm _so_ sorry!", he said quickly and took a few steps away from her. Then he apologized a few hundred times.

Lightning pulled her towel a bit higher to hide her brand and looked at the boy intently. „Hope." He immediately became silent and looked at her expectantly — and tensed. „It's okay.", she said, while ruffling his silvery hair. When she noticed that his face turned scarlet, she knelt down and laid the back of her hand on his forehead. „What's wrong? Do you have a fever?"

His forehead felt pretty hot, but maybe it was because she was so cold. „N-n-n-no, Light! I-I'm alright!" Lightning raised an eyebrow because of his strange behavior and looked at him intensely. Hope looked to the ground all the time, avoiding her gaze. The soldier suspected that he might be worried about the whole l'Cie thing. „Hey." She put her fingers on his chin and lifted his head again, so that he was forced to look at her. „Everything will be okay." Hope nodded several times. „Y-you're pretty cold, Light...", he mumbled, but loud enough for her to hear. After that, someone put his hand on her shoulder. „Sis, you're really cold!", said Serah shocked. She'd totally forgotten that Serah was still there. „You've showered cold again, haven't you?"

„Yes, and I really needed it.", she replied and stood up again. „Hope, you surely want to take a shower too, don't you?", asked Serah then. The silver-haired boy nodded. „Okay, give me your clothes, then we can wash it."

„That's not..." Serah didn't let him finish and pushed him into the bathroom. „Okay, give me your clothes out."

„But..." Then Serah closed the door again. Lightning turned back to her sister and gave her a "was-that-really-necessary?"-look. „What a sweet boy. Now I can understand you." Lightning raised an eyebrow, but Serah said nothing more. Then the bathroom door opened a crack and a pile of clothes appeared. Serah took the clothes and the hand that held the things quickly disappeared back inside and the door closed again. „Come with me, I'll show you the guest room." Lightning followed her sister into a large room where a large bed, cupboards and table were.

Were the Estheim's rich? „I'll lend you a few things. We didn't know how long we'll stay, so we bought some clothes, before PSICOM appeared here." Serah laid the clothes on the large bed and looked inside the closet, to pull out a white sleeveless shirt and a pink skirt. „No.", said Lightning and crossed her arms over her chest. „Huh? Why? That's so cute..."

„Cute is not my thing, Serah. It's yours." Serah pouted, but put the clothes back into the closet. Then she looked past her. „Oh! Nora!" Lightning turned around and saw Nora stopped and looked at them. „Yes?"

„Can you help us? Lightning doesn't like the clothes I've got." The silver-haired woman entered the room and smiled at her. „Lightning doesn't seem to be someone who wears...cute things." She was shrewd and Lightning liked that about her. Nora thought for a while before she went out of the room. „I think I still have some old jeans in the closet that would fit you.", she said and disappeared. „Here." Lightning turned back to Serah, who held a black sports bra and black panties in her face. „I've specially bought that for you."

„Thanks." At least she knew her taste for underwear. Serah closed the door and Lightning began to put the underwear on. When she turned back to her sister, she became very silent and was staring at her...breasts? She looked down at herself. No, her brand. Serah came closer and put a hand on her brand, where two arrows already appeared. Then she hugged her suddenly. Serah wrapped her arms tightly around her waist and buried her face in her neck. Lightning returned the hug and laid her head on hers.

Then the door opened and ruined the moment. „Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt you." Lightning shook her head and smiled slightly at Nora. „It's okay. Come on in." Nora stepped in and showed her the jeans that she was looking for. „And?" It was an ordinary blue jeans. The blue was very dark, but on the thighs it was light blue and white. „Looks good."

„I think so, too.", agreed Serah as she let go of her older sister. Then Nora's eyes fell on her brand as well. „So there's your brand.", she said as she gave her the jeans. „Yes."

„Where's Hope's?"

„On his left wrist.", replied the silver-haired woman. Lightning put the jeans on and...„Yes, fits like a glove!", said Serah and looked at her closely. Lightning noticed it was a Hipster and the length fit well too. „Like it.", said the older Farron, as she also put on her boots and looked in the mirror. „Oh! That reminds me...!" Serah suddenly ran to the closet and looked for something. „Serah, I won't wear your clothes."

„You don't have to. I've found something that you'll certainly like." Then she pulled out a sleeveless black leather vest. „Well? Tell me you like it." Lightning looked at it closely. It looked really good and felt soft, almost like suede. And it's also pretty thin. Perfect for this season. Lightning put it on and buttoned it up. „You can still see your brand a bit.", noticed Serah. Then her eyes went further down. „And your navel piercing."

„Don't get the stupid idea to get one yourself.", said Lightning as she noticed Serah's longing look. „Why not?", she asked and pouted. „That's my thing.", she replied and patted her on the head. „I'll leave you alone now.", said Nora and left the room. She must felt out of place...„You haven't done that for years.", said the younger Farron, while holding her head where Lightning had patted her. „Are you doing this now because of Hope?"  
„No.", replied Lightning. „Oh yes, I think Hope is the reason why you do that again. You've done it to him, too."

„Serah, that's enough!", grumbled the soldier and went out of the room. Then Hope ran into her again and was in the same position as before. _The boy should be more careful where he's going._, she thought, but somehow it wasn't quite as annoying as she'd expected. Lightning also got the same reaction from him as before. „I-I'm _so_ sorry, Light!", he apologized frantically and his face became almost neon red.

„It's okay, Hope. Just be careful next time." Hope nodded several times. „Do you know where I can lie down for a while?", asked Lightning the boy then, her sister was forgotten by now. „Uh...Well, the two guest rooms are crowded..." _They have two guest rooms?_, thought Lightning, while raising an eyebrow.

„You can rest in my room." She looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. „I-I'm not tired! You'll have the room all to yourself!", he said quickly so that she almost didn't understand him correctly. „Okay." As long as she was alone, she didn't care in which room she was. The pink-haired soldier followed him into his room. It was nicely decorated. You could already see at first glance that it was the room of a fourteen year old boy. When she'd finished her inspection, she noticed that Hope looked at her tensed. Maybe he wondered what she thought of his room. „Nice.", said Lightning and her eyes found the bed, which was way too big for Hope.

She went to it and sat down. „So...", began Hope and got her attention. „If you need anything, just call me." She nodded and then Hope went out of the room. „Sleep well.", he added, before he closed the door. Lightning took off her boots and lay down on the bed. It was very soft and comfortable, just like Lightning liked it. She closed her eyes and was finally able to sleep carefree again.

**A.N. **So that was the 5th chappy. Hope you liked it


	6. Welcome to Gran Pulse!

**A.N.** alright, here's chappy 6. enjoy

**Salvation**

Chapter 6: Welcome to Gran Pulse!

Lightning woke up, when the sun's rays fell on her face. Funny...She could clearly remember that the sun didn't bother her, when she went to sleep. Lightning raised her arm to protect her eyes from the light and stood up to look out the window. The sun was in the east. And that meant...She'd slept through the rest of the day and the whole night. And where did Hope sleep? Still a little sleepy she went into the living room, to see if anyone was awake already. But everything was quiet and she saw no one. They must still be asleep. When she saw something from the corner of her eye, she quickly turned around and reached for her gunblade — which she'd forgotten to strap on. But then she relaxed when she saw it was just Hope. He slept on the couch.

So that's where he had to sleep. He could have waken her up...But what's done is done. The pink-haired woman went to the kitchen to get something to drink. But she had to search in many cabinets until she finally found something. She took a sip and when she turned back to the door, she would've spit it out in shock. Hope stood in the doorway and looked at her. She didn't notice him at all! What the hell was wrong with her? „Morning, Light.", he said sleepily, while rubbing his eyes. Lightning gulped down the soda water and greeted him back. „Morning, Hope."

„Did you sleep well?", he asked as he entered the kitchen. Lightning looked him over briefly. His silver hair was all unkempt and he wore a light green striped pajama, that's a size too large for him. Somehow she found the sight quite...cute. „Yes, but I could've slept on the couch." Hope shook his head and took the still open water bottle from her hand. „Nah, I didn't want to wake you up. After all, you couldn't sleep properly for the last few days, because you had to keep watch. I think you deserved it.", he said and took a sip of water.

„But you had to sleep on the couch.", she argued stubbornly. „It's okay. The couch is very comfortable." Lightning sighed resignedly and looked down at the boy. „You should lie down for a while. You still look pretty tired."

„I'm wide awake.", he replied as he yawned. „Yeah, I see that." When he stared spellbound at her, Lightning raised an eyebrow. „Hope?" Hope got out of his trance and looked into her eyes apologetically. „I'm sorry, I just...I mean...I...your...brand...", he stammered unintelligible, while pointing at her brand. „What about it?"

„Oh, nothing! Forget it!", he said quickly and ran out of the kitchen. Lightning looked after him in confusion. Somehow, the boy acted strange...She went back into the living room and sat down on the couch, while crossing her legs. She thought about the whole l'Cie thing. What should she now do? What should she do with _Hope_? She shouldn't involve him in her battles, but she couldn't just leave him to his fate. Sighing, she leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest.

She wondered where Fang and Vanille were right now and what they did. Was it wrong to split up with them? Surely they'd know the solution to her problems, when they were here. Because she was apparently the only one who thought so complicated and had to analyze everything. A few minutes later she heard a noise. The others seemed to wake up too. In addition, she also noticed this delicious smell. In this moment her stomach began to growl loudly and Lightning noticed how hungry she actually was. She hadn't eaten for at least four days. So that's why she's always so exhausted. Through the many battles, she'd completely forgotten her hunger.

Hope's healing magic, gave her new strength again, but it wasn't enough. Even though she'd had something to eat with her, she gave it all to Hope. He needed it more urgently, than her. „Hey, sis, you're hungry?", asked an annoying voice suddenly. She didn't answer, she didn't even say something about him calling her "sis", even though it burned on her tongue to make a scathing comment. She'd promised her sister to give him a chance, so she should hold back a bit, before she acted rashly. „What's up?"

Then his stupid face came into view. She turned her head away and closed her eyes. „Nothing. Don't get too close to me, or else...!" She couldn't resist a small threat. „You've been asleep for quite a long time. Serah said it was a new record."

„Serah's awake, too?", she asked without looking up. „Yes, she'll be here any moment. I think all the others are awake, too." Lightning nodded. As the delicious smell of eggs, bacon and pancakes became stronger, her stomach growled once again. Then she heard Snow laughing and she had to control herself to not kill him right now. „Tell your stomach, he must wait a bit. Hope's not ready yet." Now she opened her eyes and looked at him. „Hope's cooking?" Then he looked at her in surprise. „Yes, I thought you know it."

„No, how should I know?" He shrugged. „Who was with him the last four days?"

„Do you think I ask him about his private life?"

„Nope, but he could've mentioned it."

„But he didn't." Then Serah came into the living room and greeted them. Good timing, otherwise she'd really killed him. So much stupidity had to be banned. „Good morning, sis.", said her sister, as she hugged her. „Morning."

„Good to see that my fiancé is still in one piece and breaths.", she joked. „A second longer with him alone and I've beat the daylights out of him.", said Lightning.

* * *

A few minutes later the whole group sat at the big table and ate breakfast. Lightning was so hungry that she would've gobbled everything, but she held herself back and ate as normal as possible. Even for such a simple breakfast Lightning had to admit that Hope cooked really good. She, however, was so miserable at cooking, that she even messed up breakfast. That's why Serah cooked for them. Actually, she didn't have to cook anyway. She always ate in the GC. „Well, sis, what's your plan now?", asked Snow and broke the silence. „I'm not your sister.", she grumbled, before she answered his question. „And I don't know what to do next."

„We wanted to go to Eden, but then Lightning said we won't go there.", said Hope, who's sitting next to her. „Eden? And why there?", asked Sazh and raised an eyebrow. „Um...We wanted to...destroy the Sanctum.", murmured Hope. „What?!" They all were staring at the two l'Cie in shock. „Is that your Focus? Destroy Cocoon?", asked Sazh. „Maybe. In our vision we saw Ragnarok. What else could this mean?"

„I know what it means.", said Snow and got everyone's attention. „It means that you have to stop Ragnarok and save Cocoon!" Lightning raised an eyebrow, but before she could reply, Sazh spoke. „Boy, don't be so naive. A Pulse fal'Cie has branded them. If you ask me, I'd put her on the other side." The soldier agreed with a nod. „The two are supposed to destroy Cocoon? Well, I don't buy that!"

„Me too.", said Serah. „If they have the power to destroy Cocoon, then they have the power to save it." Then she looked directly at Lightning. „Lightning. I never thought that you would take orders from a fal'Cie."

„I don't—"

„Then why did you want to go to Eden? Why did you want to destroy the Sanctum?" Lightning went silent. She didn't want her to know the reason, why she wanted to do this. It's bad enough that Hope knew. „You can save us all. Save Cocoon."

„And how are we going to do this?", asked Lightning and stuffed a few eggs into her mouth. Serah didn't answer, and that was all Lightning needed to know. „You don't know. We don't know either. So how is that going to work? I'm pretty sure we have to destroy Cocoon. We can either fulfill our Focus, or we'll turn Cie'th." Sazh nodded. „You don't have any more options."

„Don't be so pessimistic!", said Snow and hit the table. „I also believe that you can protect Cocoon.", said Nora, who only listened in silence with Bartholomew until now. Bartholomew nodded in agreement. „Don't you worry about the Focus. You decide what you'll do next and not some fal'Cie."

Bartholomew was really a wise man „But..." Nora interrupted Hope, by putting a hand on his shoulder. „You can do it. You have the power to save Cocoon."

„I think we have...right?", asked Hope and looked at her questioningly. Lightning nodded in response. They're right. If they had the power to destroy Cocoon, they also had the power to save it. The only question was: how? How should they save Cocoon? What should they do next? Hope then expressed her thoughts. „But we still don't know what to do now..."

* * *

The rest of the day they all thought about what they could do next. In the evening they all gathered in the living room and discussed everything. During their discussion, the lights suddenly went out. Lightning immediately jumped up and tried to hear if maybe PSICOM found them and attacked. They were silent and Lightning could concentrate better. Then she heard something. „Heads up!", she called to the others, and then the roof and the windows were blown up and smoke bombs were thrown in.

They probably wanted to burn them out. Lightning commanded everyone to take cover, but Hope, Sazh and Snow remained by her side, to help her. The pink-haired woman looked at Hope, who sent the others into another room and discovered a soldier who's about to attack Hope from behind. As Hope also noticed him and turned around, Lightning was already there and killed the soldier, before he could hurt Hope. „You okay?", she asked the boy. Hope nodded and took out his boomerang. Fortunately Lightning had thought to slip back into her uniform and to put on her gunblade. She took her gunblade out of its holster and attacked the other soldiers, who invaded the house.

She also saw that Sazh had also thought to take his two pistols with him and Snow...well he fought with his fists. The soldiers weren't much better than the last ones she had to fight and they could defeat them quickly. But she had to admit, they were stronger than the soldiers in the Vile Peaks and Gapra Whitewood.

When everything went quiet and the smoke cleared, they checked their location. Hope's parents, Serah and Dajh joined them again, and they hid from PSICOM who waited outside with a whole battalion and airships. There was no way to get out of there safely and if they didn't show up soon, they would surely blow the whole house up. „Hope.", called Lightning and broke the silence. Hope looked at her expectantly. „Tie up everyone.", she commended and looked at the group seriously. „We threatened you and forced you to help us. Got it?"

„There must be another way.", said Bartholomew. „I see no other way out."

„I don't either. We should do what she says.", agreed Hope and looked at his parents. „I don't want you to be dragged into this whole thing." Then the soldier turned to Snow. „Give me your jacket."

„Why?", he asked, confused. „Give me that!"

„Alright..." He then took off his jacket and handed it to her. Lightning took it and looked at Hope. „Hope." She nodded briefly and let him know, that he should come to her. He immediately came to her. She took his left hand and pulled his yellow scarf up, that he wore on his wrist and covered his brand. „Stay quiet.", she said to the group and ignored Hope's puzzled look. Then she went to the first smashed window and leaned with her back to the wall. The lights of the headlights shone through the broken window. Then she held out the jacket and the soldiers out there immediately shot at it.

„Hold your fire!", she shouted to the soldiers. „I'll show you what a l'Cie looks like!" Then they stopped shooting. Lightning looked briefly to the group — who looked at her shocked and worried — before she let the jacket drop and went out, through the window with raised arms. The soldiers aimed anywhere on her body. She knew that, because the lasers were on.

„I'm a l'Cie. Surprised? Did you expect a monster? I'm sorry to disappoint you.", she said and took a few steps closer to them and slowly let her arms fall on her sides. „I'm flesh and blood, like you. A normal citizen of Cocoon! And I'm not about to destroy it, it's my home, too!" Then she heard murmurs from the soldiers, like: „This can't be!", „She's lying!" and so on. Then Yaag Rosh came out of the airship and went towards her. „You have to be Sergeant Farron."

„And you're Yaag Rosh.", she said contemptuously and dropped his rank out of pure rudeness. Since Lightning didn't want to hear a lecture from him, she interrupted Rosh, before he could say anything. „So you now have your l'Cie. Kill me."

„Oh, don't worry, I will. We'll make a public execution especially for you."

„Wow, now I fell honored. I'll make you a deal.", said Lightning and looked at him seriously in the eyes. „I hear."

„I'll go with you, freely, and I won't defend myself." _Not much._ „When?", he knew that there was a hitch. „When you let the people in this house alone. They don't have anything to do with this." Rosh thought for a while. „What about the boy?"

„What boy?", she asked, pretending as if she didn't know what he's talking about. „The boy you protected yesterday."

„He's just a normal boy, who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all." Rosh looked at her skeptically, but Lightning didn't flinch. „Well, for now it's enough if we execute you. I agree. Go into the ship.", he ordered. Before Lightning could take one step, she heard a familiar voice behind her. „No! Wait!" _Don't tell me that kid...!_, she thought, as she recognized the voice. Seconds later, Hope was standing beside her. „If you want to execute her, then you must execute me, too! I'm a l'Cie, too!"

Lightning then grabbed him by the collar — just as he showed them his brand — and pulled him closer to her. „Hope, what the hell?!", she hissed softly, so that Rosh didn't hear her. Hope also spoke quietly. „You don't have to go through this alone, Light. We're partners, right? Besides, I've promised you to take care of you." Lightning snorted and pushed him away — he fell to the ground in the progress — and turned her back on him. The boy didn't make it easy for her to protect him! Why's he doing this? He could get out of this unscathed and now he'd brought himself back into danger for nothing!

Before anyone could react, smoke bombs were fired at them. „Who fired? I gave no order!", said Rosh angrily. Lightning held her breath and turned back to Hope, who was still sitting on the ground and coughed. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up. Then she realized that the soldiers were killed one by one. And Rosh was nowhere to be seen. The pink-haired woman thought that the enemy troops would attack her and Hope, too, but nothing happened. When the smoke cleared again, a few soldiers were still alive and looked at them. They must've killed the others.

The airship that flew in front of them was shot down and was replaced by another. Lightning reached for her gunblade as the airship came closer and the hatch opened. When she saw the person who just left the airship, Lightning couldn't believe her eyes. „Hey, sunshine.", greeted Fang and went towards them. „Fang!?", she and Hope said in unison. „What the hell are you doing in this airship?", asked the pink-haired soldier. „I'll tell you later. You coming?" Lightning looked down at Hope, who nodded. „Are you sure?"

„Quite sure. I mean what I've told you earlier." Lightning sighed resignedly. „There's nothing that could change your mind?" Hope shook his head. „There are some things in life you just do, right?" Lightning smiled. „Right.", she replied and ruffled his hair. „Uh...Light...?"

„Hm?"

„I...Thanks to you I became so...strong, but...but there's still so much I need to learn..."

„And you think that I can teach you all this because I'm such a 'good company' for you?", she joked. „That's what I'm saying.", said Hope and grinned. Then she poked his forehead playfully.

„Hey!", called Fang. „Are you done flirting?" Lightning rolled her eyes. „Get the others. It's time to say goodbye." Hope nodded and ran back into the house. „They can come with us.", said the black-haired woman. „No way!" Then Hope came back with the others. „We can go with you?", asked Snow. „Yes."

„No!", said the two women in unison. „Lightning, don't you think they'd be safer with us than here?"

„She's right.", said Sazh. „PSICOM knows that we're friends with you, so it's just a matter of time, till they purge us." Lightning looked at the soldiers, who stood around them skeptically. „Don't worry, they're on our side. Come on, I'll explain everything to you soon.", said Fang, and entered the airship. Lightning sighed resignedly, and looked at the others who were waiting for her decision. „Alright, let's go." Lightning waited until they entered the airship and followed them eventually. Serah waited for her and went beside her. „This'll be so great! We both go on an adventure!"

„You don't believe that yourself, do you? You stay in this airship virtuously and don't do anything stupid." When Serah looked at her defiantly and opened her mouth, Lightning interrupted. „No back talk!" Then the younger one pouted and went quiet. Serah knew it would be hard to make her change her mind and under such conditions it was nearly impossible. When they reached the ship, she saw that Nora, Bartholomew and Dajh didn't board. „What's wrong? Aren't you coming with us?", asked Serah. „No, we'll stay here.", replied Nora. „Serah, board the airship."

„But—" Lightning pushed her into the airship and turned back to the others. „We can't fight as good as you. We'd just be in your way.", explained the silver-haired woman. Lightning knew by now that Nora was not so innocent and that she was quite able to fight with them, but she said nothing and nodded. „I see." Then Bartholomew looked at her seriously. „Take good care of Hope." The pink-haired woman nodded. „I will."

„Of course she will.", said Nora and smiled brightly at her. „I knew from the beginning that you'll protect Hope."

„How?", asked Lightning confused. When they first met, she was anything but nice. „I've seen how protective you are over Serah. From then on I knew it. That you're caring and nice inside." How could she figure her out like this? No one had ever managed that. Now Nora became really creepy in Lightning's eyes, but at the same time she admired her somehow. That she could analyze everything so well. „Hey, sunshine! Come on in, or we'll fly off without you!", called Fang from inside the airship. „You better go now." Lightning nodded and said goodbye to them. „Take care of yourselves.", said Lightning, before she entered the airship.

The gap closed again and she felt that the airship moved. She looked outside and saw that they're flying to a huge airship. „Looks nice, huh?", asked Fang, who appeared behind her. Lightning nodded in reply. „This is the Lindblum. Once we're there, I'll tell you everything.", said the black-haired woman, before she left her alone again.

* * *

As they went through the Lindblum and followed Fang to the center of the airship, Lightning was stopped by Hope. „Um...", he began, as he stopped in front of her. Lightning waited until he went on, but when he didn't say anything anymore, she crossed her arms over her chest. „What is it?"

„I just wanted to say that...I...well...I mean...Thank you.", he stammered, while looking to the ground. Thank you? Thank you for what? Lightning put his hand under his chin and lifted his head so that he looked into her eyes. She noticed that his face was completely red again. What was wrong with the boy? „What for?", she asked and didn't mention his flushed face. „For...for everything. And for not leaving me...behind." Then she ruffled his hair. „I've said I'll protect you, right?"

As she said this, his leaf green eyes lit up and he smiled at her happily. „Me too.", he replied, while grinning broadly. „Hope! Lightning!", called a very cheerful voice. Lightning recognized the voice immediately. Vanille. Before the two could react, Hope was suddenly pressed against her and a pair of arms wrapped around her. „Vanille.", grumbled the pink-haired woman. „I'm so glad you're okay!", she said happily and looked up at Lightning with shiny grass-green eyes, which were a bit brighter than Hope's. Vanille squeezed them and poor Hope was even more pressed against her. The soldier pushed Vanille away from her and then held Hope's shoulder, who also moved away from her. „You okay?"

The silver-haired boy looked back to the ground and nodded several times. Lightning decided to just forget what happened and moved on. „Let's go to the others." Hope and Vanille followed her immediately. When they approached the others, Fang finally answered their questions. She said that the cavalry was on their side, since not everyone were good friends with the Sanctum. It all began in the Sunleth Waterscape. The Cavalry was led by Cid Raines. „You know, I still think that we should take down the Sanctum.", said Lightning. „The fal'Cie have called the shots for long enough. We're gonna take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people."

Hope agreed with her. „I agree. We should do something against the fal'Cie!" Lightning — and the others — looked at Hope in surprise. She never expected him to say something like this. „So, what plan do _you_ have?", asked Lightning Vanille and Fang. „Well, we want to return to Gran Pulse. Maybe we'll find out there, what exactly our Focus is.", said Fang. „Pulse? Oh great..."

„_Gran_ Pulse.", corrected the black-haired woman Sazh. „Okay. And with some luck you might get rid of your tattoos.", said Snow and grinned at them. Lightning shook her head. Did he really believe, that they'll get rid of their brands? „Hey, you never know, huh?", he said to her. „If nothing else, we know Cocoon is safe for the time being.", said Hope and got everyone's attention. „I'd say it's worth going to take a look."

„Maybe. But what about your parents?", asked Lightning and crossed her arms over her chest. Hope turned to her.

„I made them a promise. I promised them to keep going, and do what I had to do. They said only I would know what that was. The world's full of lies. There's no way of knowing what's right. All we can do is believe in ourselves. It's easy to sit back and let people trick you. Like how the Sanctum had us all thinking that a l'Cie was some sort of monster. I'm done with their lies. Fal'Cie, this whole Focus thing. From here on out I use my eyes. Think. And act."

He paused for a while and looked at her determined. Lightning had so smile. She'd never expected him to say something like this and above all: she already could see his progress. That was the first time she saw this determination in his eyes. Then Hope continued.

„I might not make all the right choices. But as long as I'm the one who decided what to do, there's nothing to regret. Right?" Lightning nodded slightly. „Okay." Then Sazh went to him. „Alright. Let's do it! I'm with you, bad choices and all!", he said and patted Hope on his shoulder. „Of course I'm not sure how it's gonna turn out. Pulse is hell, you know."

„Oh, is it, now? How many times have you been there?", asked Fang and laid her hands on her hips and leaned down to him. „None. But I want to go, and see what it's like for myself." Lightnings smile grew a bit. She was really proud of his progress. „Okay and how are we supposed to go there?", asked Snow. „Yes, how? The portal is in Eden. And I don't think they just let us go through it.", said Lightning. „Don't worry, everything's under control." The pink-haired woman raised an eyebrow at the black-haired pulsian. „You'll see it soon."

„Tell us now.", commanded Lightning. „Okay, okay.", sighed Fang. „We're entering an airship. The Palamecia. We'll steal a smaller airship from there and that'll bring us to Eden."

„How can you be so sure?"

„I'm just sure. These babies have a special technology, with which you can fly through the shield of Eden."

„Palamecia ahead!", called someone and immediately everyone looked out the window and saw the Palamecia in all its glory. „Oh...That was fast. Man I'm glad I've told you the plan right now."

„We can make it, right?", asked Serah. „This is not your business, Serah. You stay here."

„But—"

„No."

„What about us?", asked Snow and pointed to himself and Sazh. „You stay here, too. Fang, Vanille, Hope and I are the only ones who go. It's our Focus, not yours."

„But we can still help you."

„I said no."

„Please, Light...", said Serah, while looking at her with her puppy dog look. „No." But her little sister didn't give up and hugged her. „Please, Claire.", she whispered in her ear. „How many no's do you want me to say?"

„Lightning, just think.", began Fang and went to them. „Who knows what awaits us there. We could need some help."

„That's right, we don't know what awaits us there. That's why Serah stays here!"

„No problem, we can give her a weapon, so that she can defend herself.", said Fang and shrugged. „You defiantly won't do that! I don't want to drag Serah into this whole thing!"

„You don't need to worry about her, Light.", said Snow and grinned. „I'll make sure that nothing happens to her. I _promise_ you that! No, I _swear_ it." Lightning thought for a while. Serah wanted her to give him a chance...Moreover, she didn't want to let her alone herself. But it would be worse, when she's coming with them. She might get hurt. Or worse. But if she'd work together with Snow, they could make sure that nothing will happen to Serah. „Make up your mind. We have to leave soon.", urged Fang. „Alright! You can come with us!", decided Lightning finally. Then Lightning suddenly found herself in her sisters embrace again.

„Thank you, Light!" Then she glared at Snow. „When I find a scratch on her, I'll make you responsible for it!"

„I promise that I'll protect her.", he said and looked at her so seriously that she could really believe it. But he had to prove it to her by taking action. „Okay! We should get ready now! Come on, Serah.", commanded Fang and led her into another room. „Yeah, get ready.", commanded Lightning the others.

* * *

When they were ready, they flew closer to the Palamecia. Lightning noticed what kind of weapon Serah got. It was a purple bow. „We'll blast a nice hole into it and jump in there.", said Fang and led them to the place where they'll jump out. „We should get ready for an attack.", added Lightning.  
When they heard an explosion, Fang opened a door and she saw the Palamecia — and their "doorway" — directly beneath them. „Who wants to go first?"

Lightning didn't wait until she finished speaking and jumped out immediately. When she saw the bottom of the airship, she snapped her fingers to activate her Gravity Bomb, which afforded her a soft landing. And the others of course, too. Lightning looked around and found herself in a huge room again. And right in front of them was Primarch Galenth Dysley.

_Great_, she thought grimly. _Of all the places where we could land, why here? Directly into the arms of the enemy!_ The others must've thought the same. Nevertheless, they went closer to him. What difference would it make when they take down the Sanctum now? The woman, Jihl Naabat, who's standing next to Dysley went to them to fight against them. „Your Eminence, please escape. I'll cover your retreat.", she said and got ready. „Why don't you leave, Jihl.", said Dysley.

„Or rather, take your leave. Humans have no business here." Nabaats eyes widened when he said that. „What?", she said shocked and turned to the Primarch, who killed her with magic. „What...?", said Sazh and Hope surprised. „Magic?" Then Dysley flew into the air and killed the other humans in this room with the same way. Just l'Cie are able to use magic. Did that mean, that Dysley was a l'Cie, too? The others must notice it, too. „Dysley!", growled Snow. Then the roof vanished.

„Monster! People are not yours to use!", shouted Snow, while Dysley floated back to the ground. „What else does one do with tools?" Suddenly Snow ran to him and attacked him, but a shield surrounded Dysley, which threw Snow back again. _Idiot._, thought Lightning. _He couldn't break through the shield, even if he were a l'Cie._ „Snow!", called Serah and quickly ran over to him. „Cocoon is a factory.", continued Dysley, as if nothing happened. „Built by fal'Cie. A factory for the mass production of human thralls."

Just what the hell was he talking about? Cocoon a factory? „Not anymore, it's not!", said Snow, when he got up with Serah's help. „What can mere men do? Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie." Lightning then came a few steps closer. „If they only knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses!"

„L'Cie?", he laughed sardonically. „You mean me?" Then he floated back into the air. „Oh child, perish the thought. I am more than that!", he said, while raising his staff. Then a white owl came flying towards him and merged with it and lit up brightly. When the light faded, a giant monster that looked like a kind of machine stood in front of them. „I am fal'Cie.", it said in a deep voice that sounded like Dysley's. „My name is Barthandelus. Voice of the Sanctum, and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." Lightning and the others backed away from him. Who'd have thought that a fal'Cie in human form was the leader of the Sanctum?

„Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you sprun our counsel? You must learn your place!", it said and attacked them immediately. „Stay back!", called Lightning to Serah, Snow, and Sazh. „We'll take care of him!" Just a l'Cie has enough power to defeat a fal'Cie. Then the four attacked it with everything they had. Since Barthandelus couldn't really move, he was an easy target for them, but he still was very strong. Since he was a fal'Cie, his magic was, of course, more powerful than that of a l'Cie.

The fight lasted a long time, but eventually they were able to defeat him. Barthandelus collapsed and disappeared. „A fal'Cie controls the Sanctum...", said Snow then. „Then Eden doesn't pull the strings.", concluded Hope. „As I said.", said Dysley and reappeared in front of them. „I am Lord-Sovereign."

„Guess fal'Cie don't go down as easy.", said Sazh dryly. „Ease is not the issue. You have not fought to win. You should know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind. Ragnarok." Everyone went silent. „What's Ragnarok?", asked Serah. Then Fang's brand glowed. „Pitiful l'Cie, you've forgotten your Focus. Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon.", he said, while pointing to Lightning, Fang, Hope and Vanille. So it _was_ their Focus to destroy Cocoon...„You have had the dream. One among you will become that monstrosity, defeat Orphan, and destroy Cocoon."

„Orphan?", asked Lightning. She'd never heard of Orphan before. „The font of Eden's power.", replied Dysley. „Orphan fuels Eden with strength, and Eden in turn sustains you and the rest of our kind. Destroy Orphan, and you'll release a force such as this world has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder."

„If I did that...", began Fang suddenly. „Destroyed Orphan..." Shortly thereafter Dysley disappeared and reappeared in front of Fang. „Your Focus would be fulfilled." Lightning held tightly on her gunblade and without losing time, she ran up to them and attacked Dysley. „So what?!", she yelled, but Dysley disappeared again, before the blade touched him. Seconds later he appeared back in front of them. „Who says it has to be?" Dysley didn't answer, he just laughed sardonically, and then the airship suddenly shook. The white owl, which they saw earlier came back and suddenly became huge and turned into a small airship.

„Run, l'Cie! See how stark reality is!", said Dysley and then disappeared. Then the ship shook again. „Come on!", called Lightning and ran into the airship. The others followed her and entered it. Sazh got behind the cockpit. „Can you fly it?", asked Vanille. „Sure, I can.", he said with a grin and started the engine. They left the Palamecia, which exploded, and had to dodge the PSICOM-airships, that attacked them. „This is bad!", said Sazh. „The yoke's jammed!"

„What?", said Lightning and went to him. „I knew it was a trap!", said Snow, who also came to them. „Something's coming!", called Hope suddenly and just as suddenly they were attacked by missiles from another airship. Said airship almost looked like the monster that Lightning and Hope had fought in Palumpolum and she could swear she'd seen Rosh in there. As they dodged the bullets, Lightning thought that the yoke was working again. Sazh even shot him.

Then Rosh fired several bullets at one time and they were hit, but the ship was still intact. When the smoke cleared, she saw that a crystalline shield surrounded the ship. „The hell kind of ship is this? Fighting on its own?", said Sazh and hit the yoke. The ship flew to Eden and when they reached the shield, the just flew through it. „We're flying through it?, asked Lightning surprised and saw that Rosh followed them and crashed into the shield. „Sazh, watch out!", called Vanille suddenly and immediately everyone turned around again.

They were about to fly against a building. Lightning immediately grabbed the yoke and steered the ship sharply to the left to dodge, while they rolled over several times. As they flew normal again, Sazh maneuvered the ship directly through the portal to Pulse. „Off to hell we go.", said Lightning as they flew through it.

The bumpy flight continued on as they flew through the gate and Sazh had his difficulties, but fortunately they saw the end, and seconds later they found themselves in a completely different world. „You did it!", cried Vanille joyfully. „Yeah!" Lightning stared out the window. She couldn't believe her eyes. _That_ was Pulse? The hell on earth? No, it wasn't. There were exotic monsters and unspoiled nature. Cities were nowhere to be seen, or other things created by the people. Suddenly the ship shock and she saw a huge, long, bug-like monster flew past them.

„Playful little critter, isn't he?", said Fang amused. „Yeah, well play with someone else.", said Lightning. „Happens all the time.", giggled Vanille. Then the thing turned and flew directly towards them. „He thinks we're lunch.", said the black-haired woman and got ready. Lightning did the same. „Yeah, like a l'Cie-food buffet.", said Sazh. „'Cie-food.' Cute."

„Guys, here it comes!", called Hope and a moment later they were hit by the monster. The roof tore open and Hope and Vanille were immediately pulled out, but fortunately she was able to hold onto the ship and Hope onto her. The others were holding onto something to not fall out too, but that would make no difference, since the ship crashed anyway. Before Lightning could help them, Vanille let go and they both fell into the depths. She and Fang immediately jumped off.

Lightning was about to call Odin, but then she saw that Fang's brand glowed and that she held a crystal in her hand. She wind up and threw it up. Lightning quickly took her gunblade and destroyed the crystal with one shot. As the crystal shattered, the symbol appeared and a flying monster came out of it. „Here, Bahamuth!", called Fang and stretched arms and legs in order to fall slower. As she came closer to Lightning she grabbed her hand and pulled her with her, until they landed on Bahamuth's back.

„Here goes!" Bahamuth quickly flew down to the crashing ship. „Hey! Over here!", called Sazh. As they approached the airship, Sazh, Snow and Serah also jumped on Bahamuth before they flew to Hope and Vanille. „You okay?", she heard Vanille ask. „Oh, yeah! I'm great!", replied Hope sarcastically. „Grab on!", called Fang before they caught them. Hope slammed directly into Lightning and she had to put an arm around him so that he didn't fall back down.

He immediately turned to her and clung onto her. Seconds later, he let her go again and wanted to move away from her as far as possible, but Lightning didn't release him and pulled him even closer to her. She didn't want to risk that he fell down. „Light..." She looked down to him, but he avoided eye contact again. „I...Thank you."

„Don't mention it, kid.", she said and then looked back at the scenery. „Home Sweet Home. Welcome to Gran Pulse.", said Fang, as they searched for a safe place to land.

**A.N.** Okay as you read, I cut out the 5th Ark part. I really hated the 5th Ark and I didn't want this story to be too long. I know Fang got Bahamuth there, but wait and see how I handled this problem. Till next time.


	7. Alexander

**A.N.** So here's the 7th chappy. enjoy

**Salvation**

Chapter 7: Alexander

Lightning and her comrades went for hours through a place, which was overgrown with exotic plants and is called Vallis Media. By their relatively short trip they all became closer to each other and became friends. But the older Farron couldn't establish a friendship with Snow. He was just too annoying. But at least he kept his promise and protected Serah, so that she could take care of Hope. Mainly Lightning led the way and Fang and Hope always went beside her.

The others were behind them and talked. As Lightning noticed how exhausted Hope and Serah were, she stopped. „We should rest here." The group nodded in agreement and immediately Hope and Serah sat down on the ground exhausted. „I'll look around.", said Lightning said and went away. „I'll come with you.", she heard Fang say before she went beside her. „How did you find us?", asked the pink-haired woman, after they'd walked a few meters. „Wasn't hard. We'd seen you everywhere on TV and then we just went to the place where the most action was."

„I see. And what else happened with you?"

„Vanille and I got our Eidolon.", she said with a sigh. „And I kinda remember what our first Focus was." Lightning just looked at her and waited until she spoke again. „It was our Focus to destroy Cocoon. I guess I've turned into Ragnarok and tried it, but as you can see I failed."

„I see. Then this big attack from Pulse was..."

„Me, yes." Then there was a brief silence between them. „And now you woke up five hundred years later in order to complete your Focus?"  
„Looks like it. But maybe we can do something about this Focus. I listened to you, as you all have spoken about hope, and that you want to protect Cocoon."

„The plan's not quite easy to realize, now that we know that Dysley's a fal'Cie, and it's still expandable, but at least we have a plan.", said Lightning, while Fang nodded in agreement. „Yeah. I honestly don't really want to destroy it. After I was there, I realized that it was different, than what we've heard it would be. It was said that Cocoon's a flying nest. Ready to strike down."

„We were always told that Pulse is hell on earth. A world with monsters who want to sweep us from the sky. That the people there are specially trained to destroy us." Fang shook her head. „Nothing but lies. I mean look at us. We have a lot in common, right? And we're from different worlds. But if you ask me, both Gran Pulse and Cocoon can die. As long as Vanille is safe, I don't really care." Lightning couldn't suppress a small smile. They really had something in common. „Same here with Serah."

„Thought so. As caring as you are..."

„You're one to talk. What relationship do you have with Vanille anyway?", asked the pink-haired woman then. „Well...Even though we're from different tribes, she's like a little sister to me. Because you know, in Gran Pulse we all are family."

„Family...", repeated Lightning lost in thought. „Exactly. What's happened with you and the kid? You seem closer now." Lightning went silent when she had to think about the Vile Peaks again. Where she hit Hope and wanted to leave him twice. „You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Lightning shook her and answered. „We had a lousy start, but after Odin appeared, I knew that I must protect Hope."

„So you got your Eidolon, too, huh? And the kid?" Lightning shook her head in response. „Then it's probably only a matter of time." It was only a matter of time before he got his Eidolon, too? As far as she knew you had to be churned up inside. And he wasn't since Gapra Whitewood. At least not very much. Why should he be in a turmoil? „The kid seems to admire you very much and...respects you.", said Fang and tore Lightning from her thoughts. „No wonder.", said the pink-haired soldier. „I was the only one..." She searched for the right words. „...Who gave him support. Who could protect him and teach him everything necessary. I'm kind of a mentor to him.", she explained, while noticing this...weird look Fang gave her.

„What?", she asked, while raising an eyebrow. „Nothing.", she replied and grinned. Once they made sure that no monster were near the camp, Lightning also became slightly weaker. They had to fight more often here and that sapped her strength. „Lightning."

„Call me Light.", she interrupted. Now she could see Fang as a friend and therefore she could also allow her to call her Light. „We should go back now." Lightning nodded and went with her back to the others. It was already quite late and it would become dangerous. When they approached the others, they saw that they'd kindled a fire and sat around it. Snow told a story and only Serah and Vanille listened to him. Hope and Sazh were a little off and talked quietly. Lightning headed immediately to the silver-haired boy, while Fang went to Vanille and Serah. She didn't really get what they're talking about, because Hope stopped talking as soon as he felt her presence and smiled brightly at her. „Light!"

In this moment Hope reminded her of a puppy. Okay, to be honest, he'd reminded her of a puppy from the very beginning. The way he followed her obediently and obeys her orders. Now he just needed the big floppy ears and a matching tail that swung back and forth. She sat down next to the boy and tried to ignore Snow's loud voice. „Why don't you go to your sister?", asked Sazh. „Because then it'd be impossible for me to ignore Snow." Hope chuckled. „That's why we're here." Then there was a comfortable silence between them. The only thing that broke the silence were some animals and Snow's chatter.

„Hope, you should go to sleep.", said Lightning then. He was about to protest, but Lightning's stern look told him, that she won't discuss with him. „Okay...", he sighed. He knew by now that there was no use to argue with her. „Get closer to the fire, then you won't be cold." Hope did as he was told and didn't think about to contradict her. „You and the kid seem to be very close.", said Sazh after a while. „Maybe."

„Maybe?", repeated Sazh and raised an eyebrow. „Yeah, maybe we got a bit closer.", said Lightning and shrugged. Why's everyone addressing her relationship with Hope? That's no one's business. „And how close he is to her! I wouldn't be surprised if he'll get a crush on you.", laughed Snow, who obviously listened to their conversation. „What?!", said Lightning and Hope in unison. Lightning growled, while Hope sounded pretty shocked. Snow laughed. „Just kidding."

„I hope that for you, otherwise not even Serah can save you!", she hissed. „Snow will behave.", said Serah and pulled him away from her big sister. Lightning shook her head and looked at Hope, whose face was bright red again. How could Snow dare to embarrass him like that? „Go back to sleep, Hope.", said Lightning. Hope nodded and lay down again. „Serah, you should sleep, too.", she said and went to her. Serah opened her mouth, but Lightning interrupted her before she could say anything. „No backtalk." Then she closed her mouth again and pouted. „Snow makes the first watch.", decided Lightning and lay down next to her sister.

She'd expected that Snow will protest, but he didn't. They quickly decided that Vanille and Fang will make the second layer and Lightning the last, before they went to sleep.

* * *

„Hey, sunshine, wake up." Lightning awoke and looked into Fangs face. She sat up quickly and wanted to grab her gunblade. „Stay cool, it's just your turn with guard duty.", she said and went back to Vanille, who slept already. Lightning stretched her stiff limbs and stood up. She looked at her surroundings.

It was quiet and peaceful, but something was wrong. She looked around once again and noticed that Hope was gone. Her heart stopped for a moment. Hadn't Fang noticed that he was gone? Or had she just let him go? She didn't want to wake up the two pulsian, so she searched for the boy herself. Luckily, she found him a few meters away from the camp, leaning against a rock and gazing at the starry sky. She went slowly up to him, but he didn't even notice her. The full moon shone brightly, and his silvery hair shone even more than usual, and almost looked like liquid silver. „Hope?" He jumped when she said his name and looked at her with wide, bright eyes. „L-Lightning! What are you doing here?"

„Looking for you. What are _you_ doing here?" Hope looked up at the sky. „Thinking. And looking at the sky. On Cocoon we could never see stars. Just Eden."

„Right.", she agreed and sat down beside him. She also looked at the sky and was completely mesmerized. She couldn't believe what she and the people on Cocoon missed all these years. She only could read in books about a sky like this. Eventually, she had the feeling of being watched and looked back to Hope. He looked away from her, though and stared at the floor. „What is it, Hope?", asked Lightning finally. „Nothing." The pink-haired woman looked at him intently, but he still avoided her gaze. „Hope, look at me." The silver-haired boy did as he was told and looked at her and finally Lightning noticed how red his cheeks became. „Talk to me. What's wrong?"

„There's nothing wrong, Light. Don't worry.", he said and smiled at her. Since Lightning knew that he won't tell her anything, she dropped the subject, leaned against the rock and looked back at the sky. „You should go to sleep, Hope. Tomorrow will be a tough day."

„You're right, but...Should I help you?"

„I can handle it.", she said, while ruffling through his silver hair. As Hope didn't move to go back to the others, she looked at him questioningly. „Aren't you going back?"

„Aren't _you_ going back?"

„No.", she replied and shook her head. „I'll stay here."

„Then I'll stay here, too. I mean, if that's okay with you." Lightning nodded in reply. Why would she send him away if he wanted to stay with her? Hope was really like the little brother she never had. Serah was right with what she said. He was much more than a comrade. „Go to sleep.", she ordered then. But it didn't sound like a command, because her voice was too soft. Hope nodded and laid his head on her shoulder. He'd done this only twice, but somehow she'd gotten used to it and no longer had the urge to push him away from her.

„Uh...Good night, Light.", he muttered, as he snuggled a bit closer to her. „Good night." Lightning watched him for a while and when she was sure that Hope was asleep, she took her cape and laid it on both of them — but mainly on Hope — to warm them.

* * *

As the sun rose again, Lightning decided it was time to move on. She shook Hope, who's still leaning on her and slept peacefully. „Hope, wake up." Hope moaned softly and opened his tired eyes. „We have to move on.", said the pink-haired woman, whereupon Hope sat up and stretched.

Lightning got up and went back to camp to wake her companions. When they were all awake, they continued on with their journey. When they left the Vallis Media — a few hours later — they arrived a huge steppe, which was called Archylte Steppe. Many monsters ran around there. From the little Cactuar to the gigantic Long Gui. Suddenly a giant hand and grabbed a Long Gui. Lightning watched the events and saw that the hand belonged to a gigantic monster. „This is the fal'Cie Titan.", said Vanille and also watched the scenery.

„Hey, look at this!", said Serah and ran away. „Serah, come back here!", commanded Lightning and ran after her, when she didn't listen to her. Then she realized what attracted her attention. There was a herd of Chocobo. The Chocobo noticed them immediately, but they made no attempt to run away. Apparently they felt that they won't harm them. Lightning also noticed that these Chocobo's looked quite different from the Chocobo's on Cocoon. They were much taller and there was something...on their faces...Whatever that was. The others caught up quickly and suddenly the Chocobo ran towards them. Lightning took her gunblade instinctively, but they ran past her.

The pink-haired soldier turned around and realized that they encircled Sazh. They bowed their heads to him and it looked like they would sniff him. „The Chocobo's seem to like you. Or do you have Chocobo food in your pockets?", laughed Snow. Sazh fumbled in his pocket and he really had Chocobo-food in it. „Yeah, looks like I've forgotten to give Dajh the food.", he said, also laughing. „Do you think we can ride them?", asked Serah with sparkling eyes. She always wanted to ride a Chocobo, but because they're only in captivity and mostly seen in Nautilus, and because they never had the time to go there, she couldn't ride one.

„Of course. The Chocobo here are very peaceful. But they let you ride them, when you feed them.", said Vanille, who patted a Chocobo. „We'll be faster, when we ride the Chocobos.", agreed Lightning. It wouldn't hurt to venture a little ride. Sazh gave each of them a bit of his Chocobo-food. „Hope we take one together.", decided Lightning and went to the boy. „Uh...okay.", he said and grinned at her, not even daring to argue with her. Together they sought out a good Chocobo and fed him. The Chocobo chirped happily and snuggled up to Hope.

When the Chocobo ate everything, he let them get on his back. Lightning helped the silver-haired boy up, before she could get on his back, too. She looked at the others, who were ready as well. The only ones who shared a Chocobo, too, were Fang and Vanille. Luckily. Of course she meant that Serah had her own Chocobo and didn't share one with Snow.

Since Hope was sitting in front of her, he could steer the Chocobo. But first she had to teach him how to ride one. Lightning rode on Chocobo's during a few missions and it was actually a pretty good experience. When she told him everything and the Chocobo ran off, she wrapped her arms around his waist. Hope tensed immediately, but after a while he relaxed again. „What's wrong, Hope?", asked Lightning, when they left half of the steppe behind.  
„Huh? N-nothing, absolutely nothing. I'm alright.", he replied quickly. Too fast, if you asked Lightning. The whole time she thought about why Hope was acting so strange. It started since Gapra Whitewood...Was he sick? That would explain his permanent red face.

Or maybe this l'Cie thing still bothered him. Then she should do something to cheer him up again. But she was never good at this...Maybe she should ask Serah for advice. She was always better at cheering someone up again. In the other hand...Lightning sighed and felt Hope shuddering. He was cold? Although it was sunny, the wind was kinda cold. Maybe she should move closer to him to keep him warm. Then she pressed him closer to her. Hope tensed in shock, before he relaxed again.

Then she looked to the others, who apparently had a lot of fun riding the Chocobo's. Especially Serah. And she was pretty sure that Dajh would like that, too. When they were at Hope's, Dajh was often with her and talked with her about Chocobo's. She knew the boy only a for few hours, but she knew he was a good boy. It was the same as with Hope. Okay, they had a lousy start, but now he became very important to her. And he was the only one — besides Serah — who was really close to her and could open up to.

„And you like riding a Chocobo?", asked Lightning. Actually, she wasn't good at smalltalk either, but she wanted to talk with Hope. It was strange that he was so quiet. Normally, he always talked with her when he had the chance to. „Um...I-I think it's great.", he replied. „It's fun. This is the first time I'm riding a Chocobo.

„Serah, too."

„And for you?"

„I used to ride a Chocobo often during missions. They were of course much smaller than this one. They're from Cocoon after all."

„I see." I see? Was that all he had to say? Normally, he asked her out about everything. What the hell was wrong with him? „Why are you so quiet?", she finally asked. „I, uh...", began Hope hesitantly. „I-I just focus on the ride, that's all." He didn't sound convincing. Maybe she really should ask Serah to talk with him. He didn't want to tell her after all.

She just couldn't figure out this boy...A few minutes later, she saw that the others — who rode in front of them — stopped and got off their Chocobo's. „The Mah'habara Subterra are this way. Chocobo's don't like such places, that's why we have to walk now.", said Fang. Lightning nodded and jumped off her Chocobo. Hope did the same and said goodbye to their Chocobo. Lightning smiled as she saw it. They were in Gran Pulse for two days and Hope had a new friend already — even if it was just a Chocobo.

„Hope." The silver-haired boy looked at her and she nodded to the direction where they'll go, telling him that they have to go now. Hope nodded, patted the Chocobo again on his head and finally joined them. Then they went through the tunnels. Lightning looked around in amazement. She never saw a place like this before and was completely mesmerized — once again. „Hey, look at this!", said Hope and ran away. „Hope, where are you going?", called Lightning after him. But he didn't answer and then she saw where he was running to. „Look, Light. This is the same machine as the one in the Vile Peaks.", he said, while climbing onto the machine.

„Leave it, you'll hurt yourself!" Oh, deja vu...Like back then, he wasn't listening to her and activated the machine. And just as back then, he had no control of it...„Stop! Stop already!" Lightning held her forehead and grabbed her gunblade to stop the machine herself. But it was already too late. The machine fell down a cliff, along with Hope. „Hope!", called everyone, but Lightning was the only one who took action and ran to the cliff. It was fortunately not too deep, but he certainly hurt himself. Then a vast, globe-like monster came rolling toward Hope. „This is Atomos!", said Vanille in horror.

A fal'Cie...Without hesitation, she jumped down the cliff, ignoring Serah who called her name panicky. The pink-haired woman ran to Hope and knelt down beside him. It seemed he had an injury on his leg. „We have to get out of here!", said Lightning, put his arm around her shoulder and pulled him on his feet. Even though Hope made no sound — or at least tried to — she knew he was in great pain. She was sorry, but they had to get out of there quickly, before this thing killed them. Or at least they had to find a sort of tunnel, to protect themselves. Unfortunately for them, there was nothing. So they had to jump up there somehow. But with Hope's injured leg, it could be difficult.

They were trapped. Lightning turned to Atomos, who came closer. Instinctively, she reached for her gunblade, even if she knew that she couldn't do anything to protect them both. „Light...?" Hope's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. „Yes?"

„I'm sorry. I should've listened to you." She looked down at him and saw a whole mix of emotions in his eyes. Sadness and guilt however outweighs all the others. „Don't worry." she said, while ruffling his hair with the left hand — which lay on his waist to support him until now. Before Atomos could crush them, some robots jumped down the cliff and stopped the fal'Cie. Are these things really alive? Actually, that wouldn't even surprise her. They're in Pulse after all...As Atomos came to a complete standstill, the machines turned to them.

Lightning took a step back and got ready for the fight. But the machines didn't move and didn't attack them. „What are you waiting for? Come up!", called Serah anxiously. Lightning put her gunblade away again. What did these machines want from them? Did they want to help them? To test it, Lightning kicked a rock their way. One of the machines attacked the rock and tossed it out of the cliff. Then she got an idea. „Light...?", mumbled Hope, when he noticed her gaze. But she didn't answer him and picked him up bridal style.

He was lighter than she thought. Hope cried out in surprise and wrapped his arms around her neck tightly. She looked down at him briefly, he in turn, stared at her with wide eyes, open mouth and bright red face. „L-Light wha—?"

„Hold on!", she commanded and ran to the robots. When one of them raised his arm, she jumped. „Light, what are you doing?", she heard Snow call, but she didn't answer him. They'll find out soon enough, what she's up to. Lightning landed on the arm of the machine and it threw her up out of the cliff. She landed smoothly back on the ground and looked at Hope, who still clung onto her and looked scared and impressed at once. As she laid Hope gently on the ground, the others ran quickly to them. „Are you two okay?", asked Serah worried. „I'll heal you.", said Vanille, but Lightning held her back. „I'll do it."

„I can heal mysel—"

„I said _I__'__ll_ do it.", interrupted the soldier. „I have to train my healing magic." Hope nodded and Lightning began to scan his injured leg. „Where does it hurt?", she asked as she palpated his leg. When she briefly squeezed his leg, he winced and tried everything to keep himself from screaming in pain. „Hmhm...", she mumbled. „This is gonna hurt a little." Then she pulled his pant leg up and put her hands back on his injured leg. She took a deep breath before she summoned her healing magic. Her hands gleamed pale green and all the energy was transferred into Hope. „Does it feel better?"  
„Yes...", he replied and nodded. But she knew he was lying. He still looked like he's in pain, so she put all her strength into this healing magic.

She knew she wasn't the best healer, but she tried it nonetheless. First, she really had to train her healing magic, and secondly...well Hope had always healed her at every little opportunity, she just wanted to return the favor. After a while she was running out of power and finished her healing. „And?", asked Lightning asked. To her regret, she could feel that his leg wasn't healed completely — she should train her magic more — and wanted to see if he'll tell her the truth about it.

„This feels a lot better.", he replied. So he didn't want to hurt her feelings...„Think you can walk?", she asked him then. But now he had to tell her the truth! „Of course.", he lied again. To prove it, he stood up and shifted his weight on his still injured leg. „You see?" Lightning, still kneeling, looked up at him skeptically. „You sure?" Hope smiled and nodded in response. „Well then..." Lightning stood up again. „Let's get moving."

„Atomos can bring us out of here.", said Fang then all of a sudden. „What?"

„Vanille and I have done this often. We just go in it and he'll transport us to the other end of the Subterra. It's faster this way." Lightning raised an eyebrow, but she had to admit that this idea was not so bad. „Okay, get into this thing.", she commanded and went into the fal'Cie. They saw an opening on its side and that's where they went in. When they were inside, the fal'Cie rolled off again. The trip took a while and when that thing finally stopped, they got out and went to the exit.

But getting there took some time and they had to fight against many machines. Hope was always left behind and they had to take more breaks than normal. It was just because Lightning's healing magic was so weak and Hope didn't want to tell the truth about it. Strangely enough, she didn't really mind taking so many breaks.

Back then she would freak out about it, but now she didn't mind at all. Since the Vile Peaks she had changed a lot...for good. All thanks to Hope. „We'll rest here.", decided Lightning, once she noticed that Hope was exhausted again. „No, let's go on.", said Hope and caught up. Then Lightning looked at him sternly. „Hope you're weak-kneed. We'll rest here." Hope looked to the ground and somehow Lightning wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how. Fortunately Serah took over this job.

She went to Hope and hugged him. „Don't worry. I don't have much stamina as well.", she said, while patting him on the head. The pink-haired woman looked at the two with a raised eyebrow. Somehow she had the feeling that she should comfort him and not Serah. But she shook her head, banishing these feelings quickly. Hope looked over Serah's shoulder at her, as if he wanted her to comfort him and not Serah. Lightning raised an eyebrow at this. What's the difference, when Serah comforts him and not her?

* * *

When they finally left the Mah'habara Subterra, they arrived at a place called Sulyya Springs. And this place was just as beautiful as everything else here on Pulse. No, Gran Pulse. „Oh, are these hot springs?", asked Serah as she looked around. „Some of them, yeah.", replied Vanille, who stood next to Serah and watched the surroundings. „They say the water here has healing powers." _Healing Powers…_, repeated Lightning in thought. „Then we should take a bath, what do you think?", said Serah and spoke Lightning's thoughts. „Yeah, good idea.", agreed Fang with a grin. The others agreed too and then looked at Lightning.

Her opinion seemed to be very important. „I agree.", she said and smiled slightly as Serah and Vanille jumped around out of joy. In some ways, the two of them were really similar. Just as she and Fang...„Okay, let's go to this site and you guys go over there.", decided Fang and sent Sazh, Snow, and Hope somewhere else. When the three were out of sight, Fang and Vanille began to undress.

„What are you waiting for?", asked the black-haired woman as she went into the water with Vanille. „Yes, what are we waiting for?", giggled Serah and undressed herself, too. Lightning sighed and followed her example. They should be more careful. Just to make sure she laid her gunblade nearby and went into the water with her sister. It was warm and it helped her to relax better. „Nice!", sighed Serah contentedly. „Yep.", sighed Vanille in the same tone as Serah. Lightning looked for a good spot and lay down so that the water covered her entire body.

She didn't know when she was able to relax like this. The whole stress because of the GC became a daily routine by now, that's why Lightning had never waste much thought on doing something good for herself. But the idyll came to an abrupt end, as Vanille and Serah played like a bunch of kids. „Hey!", hissed Lightning. „Don't play in a hot spring!" Immediately, the two stopped and apologized. The three women lay down next to her and sighed contentedly again.

„I wonder why everyone hates this place. Gran Pulse is beautiful.", said Serah. „It's not that the people of Cocoon hate Pulse. They're afraid.", said Lightning, while closing her eyes. „Yeah..." For a while everything was quiet and Lightning was about to fall asleep. Or she was already asleep and just woke up again, because when she opened her eyes, she was alone. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. There were neither hide nor hair of Fang, Vanille and Serah. Even their clothes were gone. Lightning sat up and stretched her back.

Where were they? Did they want to play a silly prank and eventually appear somewhere all of a sudden? Serah should know that this won't work with her. Lightning decided that she didn't care and leaned back on the warm rock. She crossed her arms behind her head and put her bent legs over each other.

Wherever they were, they certainly didn't go without her. Apparently the water really had magical powers. She'd never felt better before. She never was so relaxed since her mother's death. When she heard a noise, she sat up immediately and looked around in alarm. Just as she reached out to her gunblade, she saw what made that sound.

It was just Hope. Lightning sighed and dropped her hand back into the water. The fact that her upper half was bared to the waist, and that Hope had a good look at her body, left her completely cold. He was only fourteen. He was way too young to understand what this sight could cause him. On the other hand, he was already at the age where the hormones went crazy...Ah, whatever. Immediately, he held his hands over his eyes and turned away from her.

„L-Lightning! I...I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know that you still bathe! S-Serah wanted me t-to get you!" Serah...She should've known that. Hope was too decent, too innocent, to even get the idea to spy on her or to take advantage of this situation.

„It's okay, Hope.", said Lightning amused and still had to think about how Hope looked like, as he saw her. This mixture of shock, embarrassment — and another emotion that she couldn't describe — with the combination of his bright red face was priceless. „I-I'm really sorry!", he continued, as if she hadn't said anything. „S-Serah said, you're might be dressed by now...!" Lightning shook her head and smiled. Then she stood up to go out of the hot spring and get dressed. „Just stay where you are and don't move."

„Y-yes!" Lightning got out and put her clothes on behind Hope's back in peace. Once in a while she looked to the silver-haired boy, to see if he'll do as told and don't watch her get dressed. But he stood rooted on the spot and covered his eyes with his hands. Lightning's smile grew a bit and then she put on her gunblade at last.

„You can turn around, Hope.", she said. Hope turned around and checked hesitantly if he could look now. When he saw that she was fully dressed, he let his hands fall back on the sides. „Let's go to the others." Hope nodded and led her to the others. Once they arrived there, Lightning noticed that they set up the camp — or at least they made a fire. It looked like they'll stay here a bit longer. Not that she minded.

„Hey, sis, you slept well?", asked Serah, when they reached the group. „You totally spaced out there, we couldn't wake you up.", laughed Fang. „We both gotta have a little talk later, baby sister.", said Lightning and tried to sound as frightening as possible. „I love you too, sis.", she said sweetly and went to Snow slowly. _Snow..._, she grumbled in thought. But when she thought about it again, he kept his promise. He'd protected Serah all the time, so she didn't need to worry about her and could keep an eye on Hope instead, and he also distracted her when she wanted to annoy her.

Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all...„I hope you haven't done anything to poor Hope just now.", laughed Snow. Or was he just a huge idiot who didn't deserve her sister. Lightning glared at him darkly, before she turned to Hope and pushed him away. „Hope and I will get something to eat.", she said as she went away with him.

* * *

Lightning and Hope had gathered fruits and slowly went back to the camp again. „Do you think that's enough?" , asked Hope then. „Well, if not, we have to share them." Hope nodded and looked down. She noticed how red his cheeks became again. „You okay?"

„Y-yes! I'm okay!", he replied quickly. Why didn't he want to tell her what's wrong with him? Hope suddenly stumbled and fell down before Lightning could even react. The silver-haired boy landed directly on the fruits, which he held, and mashed them all. Lightning knelt down to him immediately, put her fruits on the ground and laid her hand on his shoulders to help him sitting up. He was totally smeared with fruit juice and fruit pulp and looked quite sad and depressed. „Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?", asked the soldier and looked at the boy concerned. „I'm fine.", he muttered, while wiping the juice off his face.

Lightning unconsciously licked her lips as she wondered how it would taste like to lick the juice off his fa — No! She shouldn't think like that! Especially not about Hope! Once again: he was fourteen, for Maker's sake! Where the hell did that thought even come from?! Lightning shook her head and Hope looked sadly at the mashed fruits. Now they had only the few fruits that Lightning gathered and it was too late to go back again. Hope also knew this. „I'm sorry, Light...", he mumbled, while still staring at the floor. „I'm sorry..."

„Hey, don't sweat it.", she said softly and stroked his shoulder. „If I'd been more careful, we still had enough to eat."

„We just share what's left."

„That's not enough!"

„That'll be enough.", she said quietly. But she had the feeling that there's more behind it than the dinner. But there was no time to think about it, because Hope's brand shone suddenly. The silver-haired boy cried in pain before he passed out. „Hope!", called Lightning in horror and caught him before he hit the ground. The pink-haired woman didn't know what to do to help him. She needed the support of an experienced healer. Lightning picked him up and carried him bridal style to the others. The fruits she gathered lay forgotten on the floor.

* * *

Hope woke up in the middle of the night. They were all so worried that none of them could sleep. „Hope!", called Vanille worried, when she noticed that he woke up. Lightning immediately went to them and looked down at him. „Are you okay, kiddo?", asked Snow and helped him. „Yeah, I'm great.", he said, but just as he took three steps his legs gave away. Snow caught him before Lightning could react. „Hey, easy, kid. You should lie down for a while.", said Sazh.

Thereupon Hope dropped to his knees. „I'm sorry...I always slow the group down..." Lightning sighed softly. She already thought that this was the real reason for his behavior before. „Hope...", began Lightning, but he interrupted her. „I'm just a burden to you. It would be better for everyone if I just stayed behind." The soldier was shocked. He really wanted them to leave him? Back then he'd fought so hard that she won't abandon him and now...? „We won't leave you, Hope.", said Serah, knelled beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

„Why not? I'm just a burden to you all!" Lightning had to refrain herself from slapping him this instant. Why's he thinking that? No one had ever said anything like that to him! Except...herself in the Vile Peaks...But shouldn't he know that she didn't think of him as a burden? Apparently not, otherwise he wouldn't think like that. Lightning also knelt down to him. „Hope. You're not a burden and you never were. Your magic is exceptionally strong and you're just fourteen. You're a big help to us." He finally looked up at her and she noticed that tears gathered in his eyes.

She put a hand on his shoulder, but then he looked down again. His whole body tensed and he clenched his hands into fists. „I'm scared...", he muttered. Then Lightning gently ruffled his silver hair. „Hey...I'll protect you, okay? You're not gonna go through this ordeal alone, you know.", she said and lifted his head so that he looked at her. She smiled at him to encourage him, but it didn't work. Hope looked back to the floor and now the tears flowed down his flushed cheeks. „But that's what scares me!", he sobbed, while trying desperately to wipe away the tears. „I don't...I don't want to see you...you all get hurt because of me. It would be the best for everyone if I just stay here and await my end as Cie'th." Before anyone could say something about this, his brand began to glow brightly again.

This time it was much brighter than before and then a symbol appeared below Hope. He's summoning his Eidolon! Lightning and the others backed away from him as rays shot into the sky. Seconds later, a giant crashed to the ground. Lightning and Fang ran to Hope to help him fight the Eidolon. „Mention ordeals, and look what comes along!", said Fang, as they came closer to the giant. „This is not an ordeal. This is a gift! Hope! This is the kind of power you've got inside. And it's telling you not to give up. Trust me."

„Oh, I get it. It's here to show you the way. Show you that you've got what it takes to get back on your feet and do this thing!" Hope came to them and looked at the Eidolon. „You mean, that came from me?" Lightning nodded and looked at him seriously. Hope nodded back and took his boomerang.  
During the fight Lightning tried her best to protect Hope, but he could take good care of himself and even helped _her_. The fight lasted a while, but eventually they were able to defeat him and the giant vanished. Then Hope sat down on the floor, exhausted.

Lightning went to him, knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and she nodded and smiled at him. A small gesture to tell him that she was proud of him. It's almost incredible to watch his enormous progress. „Well done, kiddo!", said Sazh and patted his head. „I knew our Hope will do it!", said Snow and grinned widely. Then everyone congratulated him for the victory, while Lightning watched everything from afar. He already knew what she was thinking.

**A.N.** Well, that's it. Yeah, since Vanille and Fang never got seperated in this story, they had plenty of time to talk about their Focus and theeenn they got their Eidolon. wohoo...well, guess I'll see you next time in the story's climax. 'till then.


End file.
